The Sacred Bond of Family
by MaygenLynn
Summary: Charlotte "Charlie" Salvatore: Little sister to Damon Salvatore, twin to Stefan. What happens during the events in Mystic Falls when the Salvatore's youngest sibling is involved? Will the events change, and if so, will they change for the better, or for the worse? How will the gang's lives change, and more importantly, who will she fall in love with? -ON HIATUS-
1. Pilot

**A/N: **I know, I know. I'm terrible. But I can't help but write out a new story when a good idea pops into my head. I'm going to be synchronizing between this story and my other two Vampire Diaries stories until they're completed. This one will definitely take longer to complete since I'm starting at the **very** beginning of the series, but I hope that you all like it!

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

Highway to Hell – AC/DC **(Waking up Stefan scene)**

Photograph- Def Leppard **(With Stefan in the car)**

Sweet Child O' Mine – Guns N' Roses **(Car with Elena and Stefan)**

Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz **(Party scene)**

**-TSBOF-**

In the early morning on the first day of school in the town of Mystic Falls, 161 year old Charlotte, or as she prefers to be called 'Charlie', Salvatore practically skips to her brother's bedroom with a devious grin plastered on her face. She silently pushes open the door, and internally celebrates when she sees that he's still sleeping soundly. She creeps across the room quietly with her sock clad feet, casually scrolling through her collection of music on her iPod. She picks a rather noisy song, and carefully plugs the device into the iPod dock that she set up in Stefan's room when they arrived back in town. She makes sure the volume is all the way up before she proceeds to blast the chorus AC/DC's Highway to Hell through the speakers, taking in the way that Stefan jerks awake, looking incredulously at her grinning face when he regains his composure.

"Rise and shine, brother!" Charlie says, gleefully, nodding her head along with the beat of the song.

"Since when have you been a morning person?" Stefan asks, getting out of his bed, and turning the music down, raising an eyebrow at his sister.

"Our horoscope said that we're gonna have a good day, and I'm not about to prove it wrong," Charlie says with a serious expression, and she narrows her green eyes when Stefan rolls his own identically colored orbs. "I woke you up early enough so that you can go snack on Bambi's little forest friends so that you don't accidentally take a bite out of the president of the student council," she says, and lets her serious expression morph into a teasing grin.

"Well, thanks for that," Stefan says, with a sarcastic smile, and Charlie pats her brother on the shoulder before retrieving her iPod and making her way out of his bedroom, casually belting out the words to the song that the music device was just playing. Stefan chuckles a bit as he listens to his sisters, surprisingly on key singing as she moves down the hallway.

Stefan and Charlotte have always been close as children, mostly due to the fact that they're twins. Surprisingly though, Stefan and Charlotte don't look too much alike. The only physical similarity between the two of them is their forest green eyes. Stefan got their father's facial structure and light brown hair, while Charlotte received their mother's dark brown, almost black hair and her softer facial structure.

Charlie listens as Stefan leaves the house to go hunt, and she exits her bedroom after putting on her shoes, and goes down to the basement where she keeps her supply of blood bags that she accumulated from a couple of hospitals. She grabs one out of the freezer and makes her way back upstairs, and heads to the kitchen where she sees Zach sitting at the breakfast bar, nursing a cup of coffee.

"Morning, Zach," Charlie says, opening up one of the cabinets and pulling out a tall glass.

"Morning, Aunt Charlotte," Zach responds apprehensively, and Charlie gives him a look. "Aunt Charlie," he corrects, and Charlie grins at him.

"You don't need to be so uptight around me and Stefan, Zach. We aren't gonna hurt you," Charlie says, pouring the blood from the bag into the glass, and she sticks it in the microwave to warm it up.

"Why are you here, Aunt Charlie?" Zach asks, abruptly, setting his mug of coffee down, looking at Charlie with accusing eyes, and she raises an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm here because of Stefan. Trust me, if I had it my way we wouldn't be here, and you could live each day peacefully and _un_-paranoid. But Stefan always has to have _his _way," Charlie says, taking the glass of blood out of the microwave and drinking a bit of it. "Don't worry. Once Stefan gets what he came here for, we'll be gone," she says, and heads up to her bedroom with the glass of blood, waiting for Stefan to return so that they can leave for school. She quickly finishes the last of her blood and looks at the doorway when she notices Stefan standing there. "Ready?"

"Yeah, let's go," he says, turning to leave. Charlie picks up her backpack, and follows him, depositing her glass in the kitchen on the way out of the house.

"We're taking my car," Charlie announces once they're outside, and Stefan doesn't protest. The twins make their way to Charlie's black and white 1970 Chevelle and enter the car, Charlie on the driver's side, and Stefan in the passenger's. "Time to go start our junior year of high school for the thousandth time," Charlie grumbles a bit, and Stefan smirks a bit.

"What an over-exaggeration," he says teasingly, and Charlie grins at his rare moment of playfulness before starting the car. She lets out a noise of approval when Def Leppard's Photograph blasts through the car speakers, and immediately starts singing along as she pulls out of the long driveway and onto the road. She turns up the radio a bit louder, and drums her hands on the steering wheel, and grins at Stefan as he looks at her, amused.

"Come on, Stef, you know this song," she says, reaching over and giving his shoulder a playful shove, and he shakes his head at her. "Come on," she urges, and her smile widens when he eventually relents and sings along to the song with her. Charlie feels a rush of pure happiness flow through her as she glances at Stefan out of the corner of her eye and sees him truly having a good time. She knows how hard being a vampire is for her brother, and she has gotten used to broody and gloomy Stefan, so she revels these moments of the pair of them actually having fun together.

By the time the song ends, they arrive at the school. Charlie pulls into the parking lot and picks an empty space, and shuts off the car. She rolls her green eyes a bit when Stefan immediately exits the car, and she grabs her backpack before exiting as well.

"Slow down, Stef. The Katherine look-alike will be there, no matter how late we are," Charlie says, glancing at her phone screen. "We're actually early."

"Don't be mean to her, Charlie," Stefan says, warningly, and Charlie raises an eyebrow at him before placing a hand on her chest, putting on a mock wounded face.

"Me? Why I would never," Charlie says, before letting an amused grin slip onto her face, and Stefan gives her a look. "I won't," she groans out, immaturely.

"Promise me," Stefan says, seriously, and Charlie frowns.

"Come on, Stefan," Charlie whines.

"Promise me, Charlotte," Stefan says, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"I promise," she grumbles, contorting her face, making a pained expression, before pouting, and walking into the school in front of her brother. "But if she's mean to me first, I won't hold back."

"Fine," Stefan says simply as they enter the guidance office.

"Good morning," the woman behind the desk says with a kind smile when the twins walk into the office.

"Good morning. We're Charlotte and Stefan Salvatore. We're starting today," Charlie says with a polite smile, and the woman nods.

"Right. Your uncle Zach called about you two. Do you have your forms?" the woman asks, and the twins immediately pull a few papers out of their bags and hands them to the woman.

"Hold up. Who's this?" Charlie and Stefan hear a voice ask from outside the office.

"All I see is back," another female voice says.

"It's a hot back," the other female voice says, and Charlie smirks a bit, knowing the girls are talking about her brother.

"Your records are incomplete. You're both missing immunization records, and we do insist on transcripts," the woman says, and Stefan glances at Charlie.

"Why don't you look again? I'm sure everything that you need is there," Charlie says, compelling the woman, who immediately looks through the papers again, and she nods.

"Well, you're right. So it is," the woman says, and turns to the computer.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar," one of the females says from outside the office.

"What about her?" the other voice asks, and the first female pauses.

"Drums. Or singing. She has the look for either," the first female voice says surely, and the twins exchange an amused glance, before they both block out the conversation between the two girls. They watch the woman behind the desk type something up on the computer before rising from her seat and walking to the printer across the office. She returns to the twins and hands them each a piece of paper.

"Here are your schedules, and on the backs are maps of the school. Your locker numbers are at the top, right here," the woman says, pointing out the numbers at the top of the page. "Good luck, you two," the woman finishes with a smile, and the twins smile back.

"Thank you," Stefan says, and Charlie gives the woman a polite nod, before they turn around and exit the office. As they exit the office, they pass a pretty girl with long dark hair and mocha colored skin, and Charlie flashes her a kind smile as they walk by her, and make their way down the hallway. The twins make their way past the bathrooms, and Charlie freezes when the Katherine look alike walks out of the men's room, and directly into Stefan.

"Uh, pardon me. Um. . .is this the men's room?" Stefan asks, and Charlie holds back an amused grin, and Katherine's double looks between the two siblings.

"Yes. Um, I was just, Um—I was just—It's a long story," Katherine's double says, and Stefan nods. She goes to pass Stefan, and Stefan moves in the same direction, accidentally blocking her path. The two of them do this a couple more times before Charlie lets out an amused snort and grabs her twin's arm and pulls him out of the way, and he looks down at her with a sheepish grin. "Thank you," Katherine's double says, looking at Charlie with a smile, and Charlie nods to her with a smile of her own.

"That was too funny," Charlie says, breaking Stefan out of his trance like state of staring at Katherine's double as she walks away from the twins.

"Shut up, Charlie," Stefan says, shoving his sister playfully with a small grin.

Later on that day, Stefan and Charlie are in their history class which they just so happen to share with Katherine's double; who they found out is named Elena.

"Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional Deep South. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union," the teacher, Mr. Tanner, drones on, and Charlie half pays attention, already knowing all of this information, considering she was alive during that time. From her seat beside her brother, she sees Elena look back at Stefan, and watches the two of them exchange a quick look before she turns back around.

"You're creepily staring," Charlie mutters lowly, doodling a bit in her notebook.

"Kind of like half the guys in here are doing to you," Stefan mutters back, and Charlie raises an eyebrow before glancing around the class room, and notices that a lot of the males in the room are indeed staring at her.

"How flattering," Charlie says, flashing one of the attractive boys a flirty grin, and Stefan kicks her desk. "I'm 161 years old. You can't be the protective twin brother anymore," she mutters, glaring at Stefan.

The rest of the school day passes, and Charlie walks out to her car alone, seeing as how Stefan told her that he was going to go to the cemetery, and she drives back to the boarding house. Not long after Charlie gets comfortable at home, Stefan arrives, and goes straight to his bedroom. Charlie sighs boredly, and flashes to Stefan's bedroom, and finds him writing in his journal. Charlie had tried many times to keep a journal, but found that it just wasn't her thing. When she has troubles, she indulges herself in the mass collection of music that she has in a variation of eight track tapes, cassettes, CD's, and MP3's.

"What's this?" Charlie asks, spying an unfamiliar untitled book on Stefan's bed.

"Elena's journal," Stefan says, not looking up from his writing.

"Oooo," Charlie says, smirking mischievously, picking up the book, and flopping down on Stefan's bed, lying on her back, and moving to open the book. Charlie blinks when the book is swiftly removed from her hands, and she pouts at her twin, who is standing over her, looking down at her with a look of disapproval. "You just love sucking all of the fun out of my life, don't you?"

"It's not yours to read," Stefan says, returning to his desk.

"Well, neither are yours, but I've read them all," Charlie says, smiling superiorly at her twin, who gives her a glare. "Are you almost done? I'm bored."

"Then go out and see what's new in town," Stefan says, sitting back down and writing more.

"But _Stefan_," Charlie whines. "It's no fun to go out on my own. And I didn't get to make any friends today. Come with me."

"Fine," Stefan says with a sigh. "I have to take Elena's journal to her anyway. Let's go," he says, and she jumps up from his bed, while fishing her keys out of her pocket. The twins make their way out to Charlie's car and soon they're back on the road. Stefan points out the way to Elena's house, causing Charlie to give him an odd look, but she says nothing on the subject and parks in front of the Gilbert house, leaving the car running as Stefan walks up to the door, promising to be quick, and she turns the radio on, smiling when the song that plays though is one that she knows. She watches from the car as Stefan and Elena talk a bit, and Stefan gives Elena the journal back. She watches as Elena retreats into the house, and Stefan stays at the door. When Elena returns the two of them speak more, and she sees Stefan gesture to the car, and Elena nods with a smile before the two of them walk to the car.

Charlie turns down the radio a bit when Stefan opens the passenger door, and pushes the seat up so that Elena can climb into the back. She smiles at Charlie when she sees her and Charlie returns the smile, her eyes hidden by her sunglasses.

"Hi Charlotte," Elena says.

"Hey Elena. You can call me Charlie," Charlie says, nicely as Stefan slides into the car.

"Yeah, we only call her Charlotte when she's in trouble," Stefan says, and Elena chuckles a bit. "We're going to the Grill."

"It's not far from here. You're welcome to join us, Charlie," Elena says, and Charlie nods.

"Awesome," she says with a grin, and turns up the radio a bit.

"I hope you don't mind the music. Charlie's taste is a little… Dated," Stefan says, and Charlie's jaw drops, and she looks at Stefan incredulously.

"Like you can talk, Bon Jovi lover," Charlie says, pushing Stefan's shoulder. The two of them are broken out of their mock argument when they hear Elena laugh a bit from the back seat.

"I like this music. My brother actually listens to some 80's rock himself so we sometimes hear it blaring through our house," Elena explains and Charlie sends Stefan a triumphant smile. "So you guys are twins?"

"We sure are," Charlie says with a grin.

"I… I really can't see a lot of similarities between you two. I mean, besides your eyes… And you both have the same nose… But other than that…," Elena trails off and Stefan nods.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Stefan says, smiling reassuringly at Elena.

"So, which one of you is older?" Elena asks, and Charlie pouts a bit when Stefan grins at her.

"Me," he says.

"By three minutes. Not much to brag about there, Stef," Charlie says quickly as she pulls into the parking lot of the Grill. She turns off the car and climbs out, sliding her keys in her jacket pocket, and watching as Stefan gets out of the car and pushes the seat up for Elena. The twins follow Elena into the restaurant, and once inside, they follow her over to a table that already have a couple of people sitting around it. They stop when a blonde boy with blue eyes stands up and approaches Stefan.

"Hey, I'm Matt. Nice to meet you," Matt says with a not so welcoming face, but Stefan shakes his hand all the same.

"Hi, Stefan," Stefan introduces himself, and Matt looks at Elena, who smiles at him.

"Hey," she says, and Matt returns the greeting before looking at Charlie.

"Hi, I'm Matt," he introduces himself again, a bit less hostile than he was with Stefan.

"Charlie," Charlie says, with a small nod. Matt walks away, a bit awkwardly after, and the three of them make their way to the table, where Stefan and Charlie take a seat next to each other. The small blonde girl, Caroline, joins them shortly after they sit down, and Charlie hides a grin, knowing the interest that the blonde has in her brother.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asks the twins when the conversation gets started.

"Sure were," Charlie states.

"And we moved when we were still young," Stefan supplies.

"Parents?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie and Stefan share a look.

"Our parents passed away," Stefan says.

"I'm sorry," Elena says to the twins, but looks solely at Stefan, and Stefan nods a bit with a small smile. "Any other siblings?" she asks, finally looking at Charlie, and Elena frowns a bit when a sad look washes over Charlie's usually smiling, happy face.

"None that we talk to," Stefan speaks up, glancing at Charlie, and he frowns a bit as well, noticing the look on her face. "We live with our uncle," he says, grasping Charlie's hand underneath the table and giving it a small, comforting squeeze before pulling it away, and Charlie smiles a bit at Stefan.

"Yeah, Uncle Zach's pretty great," Charlie says, nodding.

"So, if you two are new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow," Caroline says, looking between the two twins.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls," Bonnie says, looking between the twins as well, and Charlie grins at Bonnie and Caroline.

"Well, that sounds like fun, right Stefan?" Charlie says, looking at her brother, who looks at her before looking at Elena.

"Are you going?" he asks Elena.

"Of course she is," Bonnie says, grinning at Elena.

"We'll be there," Charlie assures the group who all smiles at her. Not long after, the twins announce that they have to get home, and after making sure that Elena has a ride home, they go back to the boarding house. Charlie moves to go to her bedroom, but Stefan stops her by gripping her upper arm, and she looks at him curiously.

"Are you alright?" he asks, and she frowns a bit. "I know after talking about-," Stefan starts, but Charlie shakes her head.

"I'm fine. Really," Charlie says, nodding a bit, and giving Stefan a forced smile. "I just miss him."

"I know you do," Stefan says, and Charlie sighs.

"You can miss him too, Stef," Charlie says.

"I know I can. But I don't," Stefan says, his expression blank, and Charlie shakes her head a bit.

"You know…. I really don't believe you," Charlie says, and the twins look over before Stefan can say anything else, when Zach walks into the room, looking at both of them angrily.

"You promised. Both of you promised," Zach says, showing them the newspaper, which Charlie takes out of his hands and looks over, with Stefan reading beside her.

"This was an animal attack," Stefan says, coolly.

"Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough; they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control," Zach says, looking at Stefan at the end.

"And I do," Stefan says.

"Please, Uncle Stefan... Aunt Charlie. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you two being here, it's just going to stir things up," Zach says, looking at the twins, pleadingly.

"That's not what we want, Zach," Charlie says, frowning a bit and shaking her head.

"Then what _do_ you want? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?" Zach asks, and Charlie sighs, looking at Stefan.

"We don't have to explain ourselves," Stefan says.

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore," Zach says, and Charlie looks at the floor.

"Where do we belong?" Stefan asks after a few beats of silence.

"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake," Zach says, and walks away. Charlie sighs and looks at Stefan, shaking her head a bit.

"He's right," Charlie says. "I told you coming here was a mistake. You know that we shouldn't have come here, Stef. It's just gonna be like all the other times," Charlie says, and sighs when Stefan turns and leaves her standing in the living room on her own as he goes to his bedroom.

**-TSBOF-**

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Mr. Tanner asks the next day during history class. "Ms. Bennett?"

"Um . . . a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot," Bonnie answers, and Charlie grins a bit.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett," Mr. Tanner says.

"What a dick," Charlie mutters lowly, so that only Stefan can hear, and he smirks a bit at her.

"Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Tanner asks.

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," Matt says, and the class chuckles a bit.

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Tanner asks, looking at Elena.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know," Elena says, shaking her head.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break," Tanner says, and Charlie scowls at him a bit.

"There were 346 casualties," Stefan says.

"Unless you're counting local civilians," Charlie adds on, grinning at Stefan.

"That's correct Mister…?" Tanner trails off.

"Salvatore," Stefan says.

"And Miss?" he asks, looking at Charlie.

"Salvatore," she answers.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Tanner asks, and the twins share a look.

"Distant," Stefan says.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle, Miss Salvatore," Tanner says, looking at Charlie before turning around to the board.

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss," Stefan says, and Charlie smirks a bit.

"There's the uh… Founder's archives stowed away somewhere in civil hall… If you'd like to brush up on your facts a bit, Mr. Tanner," Charlie says, in a polite tone, but with a smirk on her face.

"Hmm," Mr. Tanner says, looking at the twins with a forced smile, and the class all takes turns looking at the twins with impressed looks after the stifled laughter that Charlie's comment resulted in dies down.

Later that night, the twins show up together at the party at the falls, and Stefan takes off to look for Elena. Charlie shrugs a bit, and grins when she spots a group of boys standing around a keg of beer. She glances at Stefan's retreating form, before she makes her way over to the boys. She grabs one of the red plastic cups, and takes the hose that's connected to the keg, and pours some beer into the cup, and she smirks a bit when the attention is on her.

"Charlotte Salvatore, right?" one of the boys asks.

"Charlie," Charlie corrects him with a grin.

"We heard about the way you and your brother totally owned Tanner earlier today," another boy says.

"God, that guy's a dick," she says, and the boys laugh in agreement.

"I'm Nick," one of the boys introduces himself, "and that's Brad, and Patrick."

"Great to meet you guys," she says with a smile, before taking a drink of the beer, and scrunching up her face a bit. "So, do any of you know where to get something stronger than beer?"

"Yeah," Brad speaks up with a smirk. "This way," he says, slinging an arm around her leather jacket clad shoulders, and leading her away from the other two boys. On their way to wherever Brad was taking her, they pass Elena and Stefan, and Charlie gives the two a grin and a wink, and her grin turns to a full blown smile when she sees Stefan giving her a disapproving look, and he shoots a glare to Brad. Brad leads her to a truck where she sees a group of teenagers congregated around.

"Hey Brad," a girl says when they approach.

"Hey guys, this is Charlie," he says, gesturing to Charlie, and grabbing a bottle of whiskey, before grinning at Charlie. Charlie grins back and downs the rest of her beer, and holding out the cup when it's empty. Brad pours a decent amount of whiskey in the cup, and she immediately takes a drink, relishing in the familiar burn in her throat when the alcohol glides down her throat.

After a few minutes of taking with the group of teenagers, Charlie notices that Brad gets a bit more 'touchy' with her. She smirks a bit when she feels his hands moving up and down her sides, and she reaches up and places her hands on his, before leaning back into him a bit. She raises an eyebrow when Brad leans down and places a few light kisses on her neck after moving her hair off of one of her shoulders. She moves his hands a bit so that she can turn around, and she smirks up at him before leading him away from the group of people and towards her car.

When they reach her car, Brad shocks her by pushing her against the side of the car, and pressing his lips to hers roughly. She immediately responds to the kiss, and wraps one of her arms around his neck, while the other sneakily reaches behind her and she subtly feels around where her back hit the car for a scratch. When she feels nothing but the smooth, glossy feel of the paint, she wraps the other arm around his neck, and deepens the kiss while leaning back fully against the car. After a few minutes of passionate kissing, Brad breaks away from her lips and begins delivering harsh, rough kisses and bites to her neck, making her groan a bit, and push herself against him.

"Charlie, let's go," she hears Stefan say, standing on the other side of the car by the driver's side door. She groans a bit when Brad pulls away, and she glares at her brother, but the glare fades when she sees the expression on Stefan's face. She digs the keys out of her pocket, and tosses them over the top of the car to him, and she looks at Brad.

"I'll see you around," she says, with a forced grin and a wink, before getting in the car and shutting the door before he can say a word. "What's going on?"

"Vicki Donovan was attacked tonight," Stefan says, and Charlie frowns.

"And?" she asks, not quite understanding what the major problem is.

"By a vampire, Charlotte," Stefan says, impatiently.

"What? Are you sure?" she asks, and Stefan nods.

"I saw the bite on her neck. She's still alive, but it was pretty bad," Stefan says, driving back to the boarding house, well over the speed limit. When they reach the boarding house, Stefan gives Charlie back her keys, and the two of them walk into the large residence.

"What's going on?" Zach asks, noticing the looks on the twins' faces.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't us," Stefan says, and immediately goes up the stairs and to his bedroom.

"We'll take care of it, Zach. Don't worry," Charlie says with a small reassuring smile, before going upstairs as well. She pulls her jacket off and tosses it into her bedroom on the way to Stefan's. She pushes the door open when she reaches Stefan's bedroom, and she freezes when she sees Stefan standing there with someone that she hadn't seen in ten years.

"Damon?" she asks, pushing the door shut as she enters the room.

"Hey there, little sister," Damon says with the usual smirk on his face, before he opens up his arms, gesturing for a hug. Charlie smiles and walks into her eldest brother's arms, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly, and he reciprocates the gesture immediately.

"When'd you get here?" Stefan asks, emotionlessly, and Charlie frowns at her twin, after pulling away from Damon.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school," Damon says, looking between Charlie and Stefan. "Your hair's different. I like it," he says, smirking at Stefan.

"It's been 15 years, Damon," Stefan says, his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads," Damon says, nudging Charlie, who rolls her eyes at him, and pushes him away.

"Why are you here?" Stefan asks, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"I miss my little sister and brother," he says, with a condescending grin.

"You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do," Stefan points out.

"I've managed to keep myself busy," Damon says.

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you," Stefan says, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah. That can be a problem… For you," Damon says, looking only at Stefan.

"And me. I'm here too, you know," Charlie says, glaring slightly at Damon.

"Nothing personal, Charlie. Just gotta fulfill my promise to Stefan, here," Damon says.

"Why are you here now?" Stefan asks, growing impatient.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word… Elena," Damon says, and Charlie shakes her head. "She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?"

"Elena isn't Katherine," Charlie speaks up.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something, Stefan, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" Damon asks.

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work," Stefan says.

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon asks, hitting Stefan on the shoulder, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"Stop it," Stefan says, losing his patience.

"Let's do it," Damon says, hitting Stefan again. "Together. As a family!" Damon exclaims, looking at Charlie, who looks at him with disapproval. "I saw a couple girls out there," he says, hitting Stefan. "Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena."

"Stop it!" Stefan shouts.

"Damon, please stop," Charlie says, frowning at her eldest brother, and putting a hand on his arm.

"Imagine what her blood tastes like," Damon says.

"Damon, stop!" Charlie demands, glaring at him.

"I can," he continues, ignoring his sister.

"I said stop!" Stefan shouts, his face fully shifted, and he blurs toward Damon, pushing Charlie out of the way, sending her across the room, and she lands on her back on the other side of the bedroom. She immediately jumps up when she hears the balcony's window break, and she hears the sound of her brother hitting the ground. She blurs over to the balcony, and looks down at Stefan who is lying on the ground, and Damon, who is leaning against a hedge. Charlie pushes herself over the balcony, and lands perfectly on her feet, and she rushes over to Stefan, and helps him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" she asks, and he nods a bit before looking at Damon.

"I was impressed. I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face 'rah' thing. It was good," Damon laughs, and Stefan glares at him.

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die," Stefan says, walking away from Charlie.

"That's a given," Damon states, as if it's obvious, and Charlie shakes her head at him.

"Not here. I won't allow it," Stefan says.

"Oh? And do you agree kiddo?" Damon asks, looking at Charlie, who meets his eyes without hesitation.

"Yes," she says, roughly.

"I take that as an invitation," Damon says, smirking.

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan pleads.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word," Damon says.

"Just stay away from Elena," Stefan demands.

"Where's your ring?" Damon asks, and Stefan and Charlie's eyes snap to Stefan's hand. She looks at Damon with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes."

"Damon, stop this!" Charlie exclaims, stepping between her brothers. "Seriously, this is ridiculous," she says, glaring at him.

"Relax," he says, rolling his eyes. "Its right here," he says, opening his hand, revealing Stefan's ring, and Charlie snatches it out of his hand. She turns slightly and tosses it to Stefan who catches it easily and slides it on his finger. She blinks when Damon blurs around her and grabs Stefan around the neck, and throws him against the shed.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again. I think we woke Zach up," Damon says, and begins walking back towards the house. "Sorry Zach!" he calls, and goes inside. Charlie watches as Stefan rises to his feet, and she frowns when she sees that his shoulder is dislocated. She watches as he pushes it back into place, with a subtle groan of pain. She shakes her head and turns on her heel, stalking into the house as well. She listens closely and hears Damon in his old bedroom, and she blurs in that direction. She sees that the door is open, and she stand in the doorway, arms crossed, and an angry look on her face. "Lecture time already?" Damon asks, not bothering to turn to face her.

"Why are you here, Damon?" Charlie asks, with a frown.

"And here I thought you of all people would be happy to see your big brother," Damon says, facing her with a raised eyebrow, and Charlie sighs.

"Of course I am. I haven't seen you in ten years. But it's hard to be happy around you and Stefan when you act like… Like that," Charlie says, holding one of her hands out, gesturing towards the outside.

"You're right. I think I'll just go find Stefan, give him a big hug, then everything will be right as rain, and we'll be a big happy family again," Damon says, with a sarcastic grin, and Charlie looks away from him.

"I'm not asking for that, Damon. What I'm asking for is for you to grow up," Charlie says, and Damon puts a hand on his chest, mocking hurt.

"I'd love to stay and continue this conversation, but I'm pretty thirsty. All this family business… It can really… Drain a person," Damon says, moving to walk past her, but Charlie quickly reaches up, and grabs Damon's arm, and throws him across the room, and watches as he crashes into the dresser in his bedroom.

"You're not the only one who drinks human blood, Damon," Charlie growls, moving to stand over her brother. "No more deaths. I mean it," Charlie says, and Damon quickly stands, and grabs Charlie around the neck and slams her against the wall.

"You don't get to tell me what to do _little sister_," Damon says, stressing the last two words, glaring down at her. His glare quickly vanishes, and he takes a step back. "Seems like someone needs to feed. You might want to take care of that, kiddo," Damon says, and leaves the room, leaving Charlie alone. Charlie sighs and runs a hand through her hair, before blurring to her bedroom, and slamming the door, not emerging for the rest of the night.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **So, what did you guys think? Should I continue? Yes, no, yes?

**I already have a collection started on Polyvore for Charlie. If you guys would like to see her outfits, and the girl I picked to portray her, go check it out! The link is on my profile, along with links to pictures of Charlie.**

**Please complete the poll on my page for the love interest for Charlie. I can't decide, so I'm gonna let you guys pick who you'd like to see her with! **

**Questions?  
Comments?**

**Suggestions?**

**Leave them in a review!**

**P.S: **The Night's On Fire, and Take Back The Stolen Time will be updated again before this story will be. I'll be working on each of my stories equally as often!


	2. Night of the Comet

**A/N: **A very special thanks to **grapejuice101 **for all of your help so far! You've been awesome, and I hope that you like this chapter! Time to get started on the next one!

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

_(Only one this time folks!)_

Boys of Summer – Don Henley (**Charlie/Stefan car washing scene**)

**-TSBOF-**

The next morning after Charlie finishes dressing for school, she swipes on a bit of eyeliner before brushing and straightening her long dark hair, and she exits her bedroom, before completing her morning ritual by checking up on her twin. She knocks twice on the door before pushing it open, and she rolls her eyes slightly when she sees him writing in his journal.

"So, Elena left pretty late last night," Charlie says, and Stefan looks up at her with a small smile before shutting his journal. "I didn't hear anything exciting happen. All you guys did was talk. I'm a bit disappointed in you."

"The world doesn't revolve around sex, Charlie," Stefan says, rolling his eyes at his twin, and she frowns a bit.

"No, but it's a big part of it," Charlie says, and Stefan stands from his chair before picking up his bag.

"Okay, I'm not discussing sex with my sister," he says, and walks past her. She smirks a bit at his back, and follows him, picking her bag up off of the floor by her bedroom door. Stefan pauses and turns around, looking at Charlie questioningly. "Do you still have our old copy of Wuthering Heights?"

"Yeah," she says, and walks into her bedroom. She scans some of the books on the second shelf of her book case, and pulls the book in question out of its place, before showing it to Stefan. "Why?"

"I was gonna give it to Elena," he says, and she shrugs.

"I've read it enough that I know the entire thing by memory," she says, handing the book to him before walking out of her bedroom, and pulling the door shut. "I like Elena. She may look like Katherine, but she acts nothing like her."

"I'm glad," Stefan says, smiling genuinely at Charlie before putting an arm around her shoulders. She chuckles a bit before playfully pushing him away, and heading down the stairs.

"We're taking my car," the twins both say at the same time, and they both simultaneously narrow their identical eyes at each other.

"You two are still doing that? Creepy," Damon says, walking past the twins. Stefan doesn't acknowledge their older brother's presence, but Charlie narrows her eyes more, watching his retreating form.

"We only have time for one round," Stefan says, and Charlie smirks challengingly at him, before setting down her bag. Stefan gives her a similar smirk before they both hold out one of their hands while balling the other into a fist, and setting it in the palm of the other hand. The twins both thrust their fists through the air three times before Charlie holds her other hand out flat, while Stefan keeps his hand in a fist. Charlie smiles victoriously while letting out a cheer of triumph.

"Paper covers rock! I win!" she shouts gleefully, and Stefan scowls at her with dissatisfaction. "I'm not gonna let you take your car out until we wax it first. We're Salvatores. We don't drive around in ugly cars."

"Whatever you say, Charlie," Stefan says, picking up his bag and heading to the door while Charlie does the same. The two get into her car, and in no time, they're at the school. As soon as they arrive, Charlie sees Stefan immediately trying to scope out Elena and she laughs at him.

"You're acting so creepy, Stefan," she says, merrily, and he glares playfully at her. "Come on, we're running a bit late anyway. You'll see her in first period."

As soon as the twins walk into history class, they immediately see Elena, and Charlie rolls her eyes a bit when she practically has to guide Stefan to his seat since he's too distracted by staring at the teenage girl. Charlie shares an amused look with Bonnie who is seated not far from her as she sits down. Charlie again, half pays attention to Tanner's lecture, occasionally glancing at her twin whose eyes are locked on Elena.

"Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration. Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore? Ms. Gilbert?" Tanner asks, realizing that neither of them are paying attention, and Charlie snorts in amusement. The rest of the school day passes without a problem, and Charlie makes a quick stop by her locker before walking out of the school, sending a quick text message to Stefan, asking him where he is. He tells her that he's at a table near the school, and she quickly finds him, and she frowns a bit at the concentrated look on his face before she looks over his shoulder and sees Elena and Matt talking. She smirks a bit and sits down on the bench part of the table by his feet.

"Eavesdropping is rude, you know?" she asks, and he merely glances at her before paying attention to the conversation again. Charlie shrugs and decides to follow her twin's example and listens in to the humans' conversation as well.

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?" they hear Elena ask.

"She said it was a vampire," Matt says.

"What?" Elena asks.

"Yeah, she wakes up last night and mutters "vampire" and then passes out," Matt says, and Charlie looks up at Stefan with raised eyebrows.

"Looks like we have someone to take care of," Charlie says casually, and smirks at the look on Stefan's face. "I'm joking. But she needs to be compelled."

"I'll take care of it. You go ahead and go home, I'll be there soon," Stefan says, and Charlie nods, a bit unsurely, before going to her car, and driving home. She sighs when she walks into the boarding house, and looks around a bit, not seeing Damon or Zach. She immediately goes up to her room and lies back on her bed after kicking the door shut. She reaches over onto her nightstand and picks up her copy of The Great Gatsby, and begins reading from the place she left off the previous night.

"Stefan?" she hears a female voice call out about 20 minutes later. "Stefan?" she hears again, and rises from her bed to go downstairs and investigate. "I. . .I'm sorry for barging in. The door was. . .open."

"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Charlie and Stefan's brother," Charlie hears Damon say and she rushes downstairs and quickly finds them standing by the front door.

"They didn't tell me they had a brother," Elena says.

"Well, neither of them have ever really been one to brag, right Charlie?" he asks, and Elena turns around sharply to face Charlie, and Charlie gives the girl a smile.

"Well… There's not much to brag about," she says, giving Damon a smug look, and he returns her look with a false wounded expression. During this small exchange Elena looks between Charlie and Damon, and she notices the startling similarities between the older brother and younger sister. The only difference between the two is the eye color and nose shape, and Elena can't help but notice that the three Salvatore siblings are undeniably attractive beings.

"Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second," Damon says, leading Elena to the living room, ignoring Charlie's warning look.

"Wow. This is your living room?" Elena asks, looking around the living room section of the house.

"Living room, parlor, seventies auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste," Damon says.

"You should see the rest of the house," Charlie says, walking into the living room. "I can show you around," she offers, and Elena opens her mouth to respond but Damon interrupts.

"Now Charlie, that would be rude. I'm sure Stefan would be more than happy to show Elena around when he gets back," Damon says. "You know, I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."

"The last one?" Elena asks.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet," Damon says, and Charlie glares harshly at him.

"Nope," Elena says, uncomfortably.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end," Damon says.

"Damon," Charlie speaks up, warningly.

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end," Elena says after a few beats of silence.

"I'm a fatalist," Damon says, and Charlie hears Stefan enter the house. "Hello, Stefan," Damon says, and Elena turns a bit to see him.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over," Stefan says, calmly.

"I know. I should have called, I just…," Elena trails off, not exactly knowing what to say.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But. . .I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker," Damon says with a smirk, and Elena begins to smile back.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you," Stefan says, giving Elena a small smile.

"Yeah, I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon," Elena says, and Damon smiles at her.

"Great meeting you, too, Elena," Damon says, taking Elena's hand and kisses the back of it.

"I'll walk you out, Elena," Charlie says, nicely, and Elena nods. Charlie leads the teenage girl past her brothers and out of the house. "I'm sorry about Damon… It was completely wrong of him to bring up the whole ex's thing to you."

"It's fine," Elena says with a smile.

"Listen, don't listen to a thing Damon says… He's a little unbalanced," Charlie says with a small laugh, and Elena laughs with her. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, alright?"

"Yeah," Elena says, and Charlie turns to go back into the house. "Hey, Charlie," Elena says, drawing the slightly shorter girl's attention back to her. "We should hang out sometime. We could get together with Bonnie and Caroline… Have a girl's day thing."

"That sounds fun," Charlie says with a smile, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone. "Here, why don't you put in your number, and I'll text you a little later?"

"Alright, great," Elena says, taking Charlie's phone from her and entering in her phone number, before handing it back to her. "Oh, and um… Thanks for letting me borrow Wuthering Heights… Stefan said that the book was yours, and I'll give it back as soon as I'm finished."

"It's no problem. We have tons of books around here. You should keep it," Charlie smiles, and Elena shakes her head with a smile.

"No, I wouldn't feel right about keeping it," she says, and Charlie chuckles a bit before nodding.

"Alright, well, keep it as long as you want. I should get back inside though. My brothers don't seem to get along without me around to settle their arguments," Charlie says, and Elena nods with a laugh.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she says, turning around and walking to her car. Charlie turns around and walks back inside the house, and immediately hears her brothers arguing.

"I'm not playing any game," Stefan says, glancing at Charlie.

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it," Damon says leaning close to Stefan's ear during the last bit of his sentence.

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?" Stefan asks after a few moments of silence.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" Damon says with a smirk, and walks away from Stefan, throwing Charlie a wink as he walks out of the room.

"Did everything go okay?" Charlie asks after a few beats of silence after Damon leaves the room.

"Yeah, she's taken care of. She thinks it's just an animal attack now," Stefan says, and Charlie nods. "I'm gonna go hunt really quick. I'll be back a little later."

"Stefan you know I still have those blood bags downstairs in the freezer," Charlie says as Stefan passes her. "I could help you get used to it," she offers, looking at him as he stops by the door.

"I can't take any chances, Charlie," Stefan says, looking at Charlie with a semi-apologetic look in his eyes, and Charlie nods a bit. "I'll be back in a little bit, and then you can help me wax my car," Stefan says with a small grin, and Charlie smiles back with a nod.

"I'm holding you to that," she says, and he nods while exiting the house. "Why do you have to be such a dick to Stefan?" she asks when she senses Damon behind her.

"Because that's what I promised him," Damon says simply, and he studies her for a few moments. "I don't understand how you can stand to be around him. After all, what he did to you was worse than what he did to me."

"Because he's my brother Damon, he's _our_ brother," Charlie says, stressing the word 'our'. "I'll forgive Stefan no matter what, just like I'll always forgive you. If you really hate him that much then why are you here?"

"You know, I'm starting to question whether you want me here or not," Damon says, sarcastically.

"I would love nothing more than for you to stick around Damon, but the arguing doesn't just affect you and Stefan. It affects me, too. I hate seeing you guys at each other's throats all the time," she grumbles, shrugging her jacket off, and tossing it on the couch. She frowns when she hears Damon whistle lowly.

"Nice ink," he says, smirking at her, and she looks down at the tattoos on her arms before narrowing her eyes at him.

"Don't change the subject," she hisses at him, and he chuckles a bit.

"Look, if you don't like it, then don't get in the middle of it. You have a tendency to do that," Damon says, walking away, and Charlie scoffs before following him.

"Of course I get in the middle of it, you guys are my brothers!" she exclaims, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Well, kiddo, this talk has been… Illuminating," Damon says, smirking at her. "But I have things to do," he says and enters his bedroom, shutting the door in her face. Charlie growls a bit before slapping his bedroom door and walking away. She walks through the hallways with a scowl, but it slowly fades as Stefan enters the house.

"What's wrong?" he asks, noticing the look on her face, and she shakes her head.

"Nothing," she says. "Let's go make your car pretty again," she says, and looks down at her outfit. "After I change," she says, and Stefan chuckles and the two head up the stairs to their bedrooms. Charlie quickly changes her clothes and walks back out of her room in a pair of shorts, and a tank top with a pair of sandals, and she sees Stefan leaning against the wall beside her bedroom door, only having changed his shirt. As the twins walk down the stairs, Charlie pulls her hair up into a messy bun, and they make their way to the garage. She watches as Stefan pulls the cover off of his car, and she eyes the paint that is a bit duller than before. "We're gonna have to wash it first," she says, walking over to the shelves in the garage that she placed the car wash and wax on. She pushes open the garage door so that Stefan can drive his car out into the driveway.

As Stefan pulls his car out into the driveway, she grabs two buckets, and the soap and wax, and brings them outside. Charlie practically skips back into the garage to grab the slightly old radio, and she turns it on, immediately changing the station to her favorite 70's/80's station, and she pours a bit of soap into each of the buckets while Stefan fills them up with the hose.

"So what did Damon say to upset you?" Stefan asks as they begin washing opposite sides of the car. Charlie frowns at Stefan and he gives her an 'are you serious' look. "I know you better than anybody else, Charlie. You were mad when I came back home."

"You know it's times like these where I wish that the majority of the last century wasn't spent with you," Charlie grumbles, a bit annoyed.

"Answer the question, Charlie," Stefan calls from the other side of the car.

"Brief summarization, or full story?" she asks with a raised eyebrow as the dunks her sponge back into the soapy water of her bucket.

"Let's go with brief summarization," Stefan says, scrubbing off a bit of dirt from his side of the car.

"Um… Well, basically I confronted him on how he's been treating you, and he deflected, as usual, after reminding me, once again, of his promise to you of an eternity of misery, and asking me how I can stand to be around you," Charlie says, rising to her full height to begin washing the top of the car.

"I sometimes wonder that myself," Stefan admits, moving to the back of the car. Charlie pauses in her movements, and looks in his direction with a frown.

"Because you're my brother, Stefan," Charlie says, and drops her sponge back in the bucket before walking to the back of the car so she can see her brother, and he rises to his full height when he sees her. "I forgave you more than a hundred years ago. I'll always forgive you for anything, just like I will with Damon."

"I'm glad… Because you're probably gonna need to keep that attitude while he's around," Stefan says, seriously.

**-TSBOF-**

The next evening, Charlie completes her make up before leaving her room to find Stefan to see if he's ready to leave. She casually walks to his room and hears that he's having a conversation with Zach.

"I'm not sure, Zach. I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon and Charlie," Stefan says.

"Then why didn't you have Aunt Charlie do it?" Zach asks.

"Because it's my fault Damon's here, not hers," Stefan says, tensely.

"So what happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asks.

"Then I'll take care of it," Charlie says, leaning in the doorway, and the two men look at her before Zach nods a bit, before looking back at Stefan.

"Is she worth it? Uncle Stefan, this girl you came back for?" Zach asks, and Charlie looks at Stefan, curiously.

"Yes," he says simply after a few beats of silence.

"Don't worry so much, Zach. Everything's gonna be fine," Charlie says, and Zach sighs before leaving the room. Charlie watches as Stefan finishes buttoning his shirt before he looks at her. "Ready?"

"Yeah," he says, and the twins quickly exit the house, and they blur close to down, not bothering to take either of their cars. They each take a candle from a table in the town square, and Stefan immediately scopes out Elena. Charlie smirks a bit as they make their way over to her, and she immediately spots Caroline who smiles at her.

"Hey!" she chirps happily.

"Hey, Caroline. How's it going?" she asks.

"Awesome," Caroline smiles. "Oh, here," she says, and lights Charlie's candle for her.

"Thanks," Charlie says, laughing a bit. Charlie looks over when she hears someone clear their throat, and she sees a dark haired boy sitting there, and Charlie can't help but find this boy very attractive.

"Oh, Charlie, this is Tyler," Caroline introduces, and Tyler stands.

"Hey Tyler," Charlie smiles, "Charlie Salvatore."

"I know. I think everybody knows. The Salvatore siblings who live over in the mysterious Salvatore boarding house," Tyler says, smiling charmingly at her, and Charlie laughs.

"That's us," she says. "And you're Tyler Lockwood. The feud between you and Jeremy Gilbert over Vicki Donovan is infamous. My brother and I have only been at school for a couple of days and we've heard about it several times."

"Dude," Matt laughs from beside Charlie as Tyler's smile falters, and Charlie looks over when Caroline latches onto her leather clad arm before leading her away a bit.

"I totally love you," Caroline says, and Charlie laughs. "So I think we should definitely hang out sometime. Maybe go shopping."

"Sure, sounds fun," Charlie says, smiling.

"Awesome," Caroline smiles, and pulls out her phone. "I need your number, and we'll make plans."

"Sure," Charlie says, and gives Caroline her cell number. Charlie half listens as Caroline talks to her for a few moments. Charlie is more focused on the conversation between Elena and her brother.

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt," she hears Elena say.

"Elena…," Stefan says quietly.

"Its okay, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. Complicated brother? Check. Complicated ex? Check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating, double check. It's okay. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but... then the sun came up and reality set in. So…," Elena trails off, and Charlie hears her walk away from Stefan.

"So do you wanna come with us to the Grill?" Caroline asks, looking at Charlie questioningly.

"Um, how about I meet you there? I need to talk to my brother," Charlie says, and Caroline nods.

"Okay," she smiles, and walks away with Matt and Tyler. Charlie watches as she walks away for a few moments, before turning to look at Stefan who is standing in the same place he was in while he was talking to Elena, and Charlie walks over to him.

"You okay?" she asks, and he simply stares ahead. "You know, you still have time. You've only known her for a few days. Give her some time to come around."

"You're right," he says with a sigh and she smiles.

"I'm always right," Charlie says, and Stefan rolls his eyes at her with a small grin.

"We should keep an eye out for Damon," Stefan says, and Charlie groans.

"Please don't start," Charlie says, with a pleading look on her face.

"I'm just being logical Charlie. A town event with a lot of people… Damon will definitely be here," he says, and Charlie sighs before looking away. She nods a bit before walking away. "Hey, I'm sorry, but you know that I'm right."

"I know Stefan," she says, sharply.

"Then why are you being so short with me?" he asks, and she narrows her eyes at him.

"Is that a short joke?" she asks, and Stefan rolls his eyes at her while she lets an amused grin slip onto her face.

"Be serious," he says, and she sighs, the grin vanishing completely.

"Because I'm so sick of you two fighting. It gets to me every time," she says, as they continue walking. Stefan stops, and grabs her arm gently, turning her to face him.

"I know it does. And believe me when I say that I'm _trying _not to fight with him. I'm perfectly content not talking to him at all, but he's the one that starts it. You know that," Stefan says, trying to make his sister see his side. Charlie sighs before playing with the ends of her hair a bit, something she often does whenever she's nervous or stressed out; a habit she's had since she was human. Charlie opens her mouth to respond, but she stops when she sees Matt approaching them.

"Hey," Matt says, looking at the twins.

"Hey," Stefan responds.

"Have you seen my sister?" he asks, and Charlie and Stefan glance at each other, before Charlie shakes her head a bit.

"No, sorry," Stefan says.

"I can't find her. She's missing," Matt says.

"Well, we'll keep an eye out for her," Charlie says, grabbing onto Stefan's arm and leading him away upon seeing the look in Matt's eyes.

"Hey. I saw you at the hospital yesterday," Matt calls, looking at Stefan.

"Did you?" Stefan asks.

"What were you doing there?" Matt asks.

"Visiting," Stefan says, simply.

"Visiting? You know, Elena and I, we've known each other for a long time. We might not be together right now, but I look out for her. And I'll always look out for her," Matt says, and Charlie frowns when she hears a scream. She glances at Stefan before heading in the direction of the scream, and as soon as she's out of Matt's sight, she glances around for any other on lookers, and when she finds no one, she blurs forward, and sees Damon with a girl on top of a building.

"You really have to stop screaming," Damon says, and she blurs forward again, and jumps on top of the building.

"Damon what the hell are you doing?!" she shouts, looking wide eyed between Damon and Vicki Donovan.

"Having a bit of fun Charlie," Damon says, smirking at Charlie.

"Please, help me," Vicki cries, looking at Charlie, who frowns deeply.

"Damon, stop this, seriously. Just let her go," Charlie says. "And if you do anything cute like drop her over the edge of the building, you're going with her," she growls, seeing the look in Damon's eyes. Damon groans a bit when she says that, and rolls his eyes.

"You're turning into a buzz kill like Stefan, Charlie," Damon warns. "Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?" Damon asks Stefan as he appears beside Charlie.

"Let her go," Stefan says, and Damon glances at Charlie's stern gaze before rolling his eyes, and tossing Vicki towards the twins, and Charlie catches her before she hits the ground.

"You're gonna be fine, Vicki," Charlie mutters to her, keeping her hands on her arms protectively. Vicki glances at Charlie for a few moments before nodding, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"I don't need her to be dead, but. . .you might," Damon says to Stefan. "What attacked you the other night?" Damon asks Vicki, and Charlie frowns at him.

"I don't know. An animal," Vicki says, frowning.

"Are you sure about that? Think. Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?" Damon asks, and Charlie glares at her eldest brother.

"A vampire," Vicki says quietly after a few moments of silence.

"Who did this to you?" Damon shouts.

"You did!" Vicki shouts back, backing up into Charlie's arms.

"Wrong!" Damon shouts.

"Don't," Stefan says quietly.

"It was Stefan," Damon says to Vicki, and Charlie growls slightly before sharply turning Vicki away.

"Don't," Stefan repeats, sternly.

"Come here," Damon says, and starts toward Vicki, but Charlie stands in front of her.

"No Damon, that's enough," Charlie demands.

"Stay out of this, Charlie," Damon warns, walking closer to her, but Charlie doesn't move.

"No Damon. You've done enough tonight. Let the girl go," she says, her eyes narrowed dangerously at Damon, but Damon simply shoves her into Stefan, who quickly catches her.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to you," Damon compels Vicki.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me," Vicki repeats.

"He's a vampire. A vicious, murderous monster," Damon compels her, and Charlie rushes toward him and pushes him away.

"I said enough, Damon!" she shouts, and Damon looks at her from where he landed on the other side of the roof before rising to his feet.

"I'm impressed kiddo," he says before blurring towards her and throwing her across the roof, making her hit her head harshly on the metal door. "But you just keep getting in my way, and I have to admit, it's pretty annoying."

Stefan immediately rushes towards Charlie and crouches down next to her.

"Charlie," he says, looking at her dazed form, before slapping her cheek gently. "Hey, Charlie, look at me," he says, and she groans a bit before looking into Stefan's eyes. "Are you alright?" he asks, and she nods a bit, and Stefan helps her stand, before glaring at Damon. Stefan takes a few more steps towards Damon but stops shortly when Damon rips the bandage off of Vicki's neck. Damon notices how Stefan looks warily at Vicki's neck and rolls his eyes.

"Ugh! Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need. But you can change that. Human blood gives you that," Damon says after throwing Vicki at Stefan.

"Stefan, focus," Charlie calls, slowly approaching him. "You don't wanna hurt her Stefan," she says, seeing Stefan's face shift, and she approaches them a bit quicker.

"You have two choices," Damon starts, watching his siblings.

"Look at me, Stefan," Charlie says, as she sees Stefan leaning a bit closer to Vicki's neck. "Think about what you're doing Stefan, look at me!" she says, a bit louder and Stefan's eyes snap to Charlie, before he looks back at Vicki and he shoves her into Charlie's arms.

"You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run, screaming "vampire" through the town square," Damon says, making both of his siblings look at him.

"That's what this is about? You want to expose me?" Stefan asks, incredulously.

"No! I want you to remember who you are!" Damon says, exasperatedly, and Charlie watches both of her siblings closely.

"Why? So what, so I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again? You know what, let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you," Stefan says, and Charlie looks at him, horrified. Stefan glances at Charlie before looking back at Damon. "But you know, if they come after me, they'll be coming after Charlie too," he says, and Damon's smug expression drops slightly. "Could you live with that, Damon? Could you live with our sister's death on your hands?"

"Wow. Come here, sweetheart," Damon says after a few moments of silence before approaching Charlie and Vicki again. Charlie gives Damon a warning look, that he ignores, and he leans close to Vicki and Charlie can hear him compelling her to forget everything that he told her. Charlie relaxes slightly and steps away from Vicki and towards Stefan.

"What happened? Where am I? Oh, I ripped my stitches open. Ugh…," Vicki groans before touching her neck.

"You alright?" Charlie asks, and Vicki looks at her before nodding a bit.

"I took some pills, man. I'm good," Vicki says, and stands up before walking through the door and out of the Salvatore siblings' sight.

"It's good to be home. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake-up call, don't you think?" Damon asks, and Charlie sighs before moving to walk through the door as well, exhausted by her brothers' fighting.

"What are you up to, Damon?" she hears Stefan ask.

"That's for me to know and for you to…dot, dot, dot. Give Elena my best," she hears Damon say before she walks through the door, letting it slam shut behind her, before she walks down the stairs and out of the building before quickly heading home.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **And there's chapter two! I hope you all liked it!

**New outfits on Polyvore. Link on my profile! Go check them out! **

**IMPORTANT: **The poll for Charlie's love interest is still open! So far, Kol is in the lead by three votes!Go vote!

**Questions?  
Comments?  
Suggestions?**

**Leave them in a review!**

**Reviews and Replies:**

**grapejuice101: **Thank you for your review! And thank you so much for all the help you've been giving me with the ideas for this story. You're really helping me out a lot! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**courtcourtrawrs27: **Well, I'm really glad you like it so far! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Bronzelove: **Hmm, we'll see! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**BritanyJean: **Well thank you so much! I'm glad you like it that much so far! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Guest: **Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**XxStephanieDivaxX: **We'll see. :) So far, Kol's winning by three in the poll on my profile! You can go vote if you haven't already! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Poohxnyah: **I'm really glad you like the Charlie and Stefan interaction. You'll be seeing a lot more of her with both brothers! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**xxRAINBOWunicornsXX:** Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**SweetSnow01: **That's a good idea! That just might happen! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Tvdlover87654: **Agreed. I really do like the idea of her with Klaus. Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Imaddictedtocarrots: **I know. But don't worry, that won't last forever. Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Mikaelsonlove: **It's a possibility. :) Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**theone0552: **Don't worry, Kol's winning by three on the poll on my profile! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**AlectraS: **Hmm, maybe. :) Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**RockaRosalie: **It's a definite possibility! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Bbymojo: **Hah, that's possible! Just go vote in the poll on my profile! Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Veyrona: **It's possible! *Wink, wink* Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Melissawtf: **Haha, I'm glad you liked that part. I think Damon deserves to get his ass kicked every once in a while. He's really a jerk sometimes. Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**DiannaSalvatore: **Ugh, I know. Season 1 Damon kind of pisses me off, but he's undeniably funny. Hmm, we'll see who Charlie will end up with during season 2. This season is more about getting to know everybody, and trying to strengthen the bond between the siblings. Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!


	3. Friday Night Bites

**A/N: **A special thanks to **grapejuice101**for all of your help with this chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**None this chapter you guys! Sorry!**

**-TSBOF-**

Early the next morning, Caroline slowly opens her eyes, and takes a breath. In seconds, the memories of the previous night flood into her mind, and she sits up with a sharp gasp. She sits up, looking at herself in the mirror, and her breathing becomes labored when she sees the gruesome bite wound on her neck. She subtly glances at the sleeping form of Damon Salvatore before slowly and silently climbing out of her bed. She slowly makes her way to her bedroom door, cringing and stopping when the floor squeaks under her weight. She looks at Damon as he shifts a bit in his sleep and she walks the rest of the way to her door. She reaches out and grasps the doorknob in her hand, and twists it before glancing back over her shoulder to check the bed. She frowns when Damon isn't in her bed anymore.

"Good morning," Damon says, pleasantly, and Caroline gasps before looking beside here, where Damon stands. Caroline immediately begins shaking her head.

"Please... Don't!" Caroline asks, backing away, and she bumps into her nightstand before looking down at it. She quickly grips the lamp in her hand.

"Don't do that," Damon warns, but Caroline quickly hits Damon in the face with the lamp before rushing away from him. She quickly climbs over the bed, and picks up her alarm clock. "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!" Damon warns, before Caroline hurdles the clock at him, which he dodges swiftly. He looks up with an annoyed expression on his face, and he catches Caroline as she attempts to flee from the room, and tosses her on the bed.

"Get away from me!" she shouts, throwing a blood covered pillow at him, which he catches, and begins walking toward her. "No," Caroline cries, and Damon grasps her chin between his thumb and index finger.

"This could have gone a completely different way. Now, I have something to take care of at home, but I'll be back in a little bit," Damon says, before beginning to compel her. "I want you to sleep until I get back and wake you up."

Caroline's eyes immediately flutter shut and she slumps forward, unconscious. Damon sighs before laying her down, and using his enhanced speed to dress, and exit the Forbes' residence.

Minutes later at the boarding house, Damon creeps into Charlie's bedroom, and looks upon his little sister's sleeping form. He slowly walks to her bed and reaches out to brush some of her dark hair away from her peaceful face, and he smiles slightly when she scrunches up her face a bit. He pulls his hand away when she groans and mumbles something incoherent before turning on her side, with her back to Damon. Damon decides to sit and wait for his sister to wake up, so he walks over and sits down in one of the chairs that she had placed in the bedroom, but not before swiping her cell phone off of one of the nightstands by her bed, and he scrolls through her contacts. He frowns slightly when he sees Caroline Forbes' number in her list of contacts, and the frown deepens when he sees that his sister and his new blood bag have been exchanging several text messages. A quiet voice in his head tells him that this could pose a problem for him, but he shrugs slightly before placing the cell phone on the table next to him.

Damon stands from the chair, and moves to one of the book cases in her room that she keeps her CD's on, and he's not very surprised by the vast amount of variety that her collection consists of. He looks down and sees a large box full of cassette tapes by the book case, and he picks it up before moving back to the chair, and sitting down, looking through the tapes. He looks up when he hears the alarm on her phone going off, and he tosses her phone on the bed, and smirks when it ends up landing next to her head.

"Ugh, what the hell?" Charlie grumbles, reaching over her head and grabbing her phone before turning the alarm off. She frowns when she hears somebody going through her things, and sits up. She narrows her eyes when she sees Damon sitting on one of her chairs, going through her cassettes. "What are you doing in here? Get out," she says, pointing to the door.

"Alice Cooper, Poison, Guns N' Roses," Damon lists off, nodding as he looks through the numerous tapes. "Rick Springfield?" he asks, frowning with distaste while looking over the tape. "Didn't know that was up your alley, kiddo. Oh, right… Jessie's Girl."

"What do you want?" Charlie groans, getting out of bed, and walking over to Damon, and taking the box of tapes out of his hands and putting it back it its spot by the book case. Damon smirks before leaning back in the chair, and kicking his feet up on the table.

"You know, I bet you have at least two more boxes full of those tapes. Do you still have all of your old records too?" Damon asks, looking at Charlie who glares at him, and he chuckles. "I'll take that as a yes. You and Stefan… Such packrats."

"Get. Out. Of my room, Damon," Charlie says, her frustration growing rapidly.

"Oh, you sound angry," Damon says, standing.

"You're damn right I'm angry! What the hell was that last night?" Charlie asks, her voice rising slightly. "What are you trying to prove?"

"I'm just trying to show Stefan the benefits of feeding on human blood," Damon says simply, and Charlie gives him an aggravated look.

"He doesn't _want _to drink human blood. And you know why that is Damon," Charlie says, quietly. "Look, if you're done being annoying, get out. I have to get ready for school."

"Me? Annoying?" Damon asks, placing a hand on his chest, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"Out!" she barks, pointing to the door.

Charlie narrow her eyes a bit when Damon doesn't move, and she stomps over to him, before pushing him towards the door.

"Okay, okay, fine," Damon says, holding up both of his hands and walking to the door, after pushing her hands off of him. "I'll just finish going through your stuff when you leave for school," he says, and quickly shuts the door when Charlie throws a book at him with impressive accuracy. She glares at the door when she hears him chuckle as he walks down the hallway. She walks to her closet and pulls out an outfit, before going to her dresser and pulling out a matching pair of undergarments, and going to her bathroom to quickly shower. When she finishes showering and dressing, she stands in front of the bathroom mirror, and blow dries her hair before straightening it. She walks back out to her bedroom, and pulls on her boots before grabbing her jacket and backpack, and she exits her room.

Charlie heads straight down to the kitchen while she waits for Stefan to get ready for school, and an idea springs to mind. She takes her phone out of her pocket and checks the time, and smiles when she sees that she has about thirty minutes before they have to leave for school, so she puts all of her things down and takes a pan out of one of the bottom cabinets, before grabbing a couple of other things.

Twenty minutes later Stefan walks downstairs and he frowns a bit when he sees Charlie in the kitchen with her hair tied back, standing in front of the stove.

"Since when did you start cooking again?" Stefan asks, and Charlie sends him a smile over her shoulder.

"Well, I was bored, and I saw that we had a lot of time before we had to leave, so I decided to test out my cooking skills," Charlie says, grabbing one of the plates off of the counter by the stove, and she puts a few pieces of French toast on it, before sprinkling a bit of powdered sugar on it, and placing it on the breakfast bar in front of Stefan. "What do you think?" she asks, placing a fork next to the plate. She watches with a grin as Stefan takes a bite, and lets out a noise of approval.

"It's fantastic," he says, nodding, and Charlie claps her hands together before putting a couple of pieces on her own plate, and joining Stefan at the breakfast bar. "I heard Damon in your room earlier."

"Yeah, I don't know what that was about," Charlie says between bites of food.

"I do. It's the same thing he always does," Stefan says, taking another bite of French toast. "He does something ridiculous, and then he tries to get back on your good side by acting… Like himself."

"Does this conversation have a point, Stefan?" Charlie asks, frowning at him and pushing her plate away.

"I just don't want you to fall for his games again, Charlie," Stefan says, pushing his plate away as well, and looking at his twin seriously. "You fall for it every time, and you always end up getting hurt. I don't want to see you like that again."

"Stefan," Charlie starts, but Stefan holds up a hand, stopping her.

"Look, I'm not saying to completely shut him out. He's our brother, and I know that you love him. I just want you to promise me that you'll keep your guard up around him," Stefan says. "You're my sister. My twin sister. And I hate seeing you hurt, so please just promise me."

"Okay… I promise, Stefan," Charlie says, nodding, looking at him sincerely. Stefan smiles, and reaches over and squeezes one of her hands briefly before standing and taking their plates to the dishwasher. Charlie picks up her bag and slings it over her shoulder before looking at her jacket and shrugging, deciding against wearing it and leaving it on the breakfast bar. She watches as Stefan shuts the dishwasher and grabs his bag. The twins leave the boarding house and climb into Charlie's Chevelle, and they're at school in minutes. They walk up to the school, and immediately spot Bonnie and Elena walking.

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie," Stefan says, and Charlie gives both girls a smile.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So I'll see you guys later," Bonnie says, and hastily leaves. As she walks past Charlie and Stefan, her hand accidentally brushes against Charlie's and she gasps lightly, causing Charlie, Stefan, and Elena to frown at her, concerned. Bonnie stares at Charlie with a deep frown, before her eyes shift to Stefan.

"Bonnie?" Elena asks, taking a step closer to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Bonnie says, tearing her eyes away from the twins, and looking at Elena. "I'll see you in class," she says, before walking away quickly. The twins share a glance before looking back at Elena.

"She doesn't like me very much," Stefan says.

"She doesn't know you. She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you," Elena says, and Charlie grins a bit at her brother.

"I'll see you guys in class. I have to go to my locker really quick," Charlie says, and Stefan and Elena give her a smile and nod. Charlie walks away, passing by Matt and Tyler along the way, and she picks up a bit of their conversation.

"Hey, what am I supposed to do, Ty? She made her choice," Matt says.

"Let her know she made the wrong one," Tyler says, and catches a football. Charlie raises an eyebrow when he goes to throw it, and she looks back and sees that he's aiming for Stefan.

"Heads up, Stef," Charlie says, quietly, knowing that Stefan can hear her.

"What are you doing? Ty, don't. Ty, don't! Ty!" Matt says, and Charlie watches the scene with interest as Tyler throws the football, and she grins when Stefan quickly turns around and catches it. Stefan smiles at Tyler before throwing the football back with a little extra force to make Tyler stumble back a bit. Charlie observes the impressed facial expressions of everyone around who had witnessed the scene, and she winks at Stefan when he turns his attention to her.

Charlie walks into Tanner's history class, and she sees that Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan had already showed up, and she takes her seat next to Stefan.

"World war II ended in... Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945," Tanner says as he begins his lecture.

"Psst. FYI... Our team sucks. They could use you," Elena whispers, looking back at Stefan.

"Can't," Stefan whispers back. "I'm a loner."

"Miss Gilbert?" Tanner asks, and Elena turns around quickly.

"Hmm?" she asks.

"Pearl Harbor?" Tanner asks, looking down at her,

"Umm…," Elena trails off, not knowing the answer.

"December 7, 1941," Stefan answers, and Tanner looks at him.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert," Tanner says, and Charlie grins at Stefan.

"Anytime," Stefan says, nodding with a small grin.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall," Tanner says.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir," Stefan says, and Charlie nearly snorts with amusement.

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954."

"The Battle of Gettysburg."

"1863."

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953," Stefan answers.

"Ha! It ended in '52," Tanner says triumphantly, before walking back to the front of the classroom from Stefan's desk that he'd slowly approached throughout their small battle of intelligence.

"Actually sir, it was '53," Charlie pipes up, and Tanner turns around sharply and looks at her. She gives him a snarky grin and she raises an eyebrow as if daring him to argue.

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly," Tanner says, and nearly everyone scrambles to open their books or pull out their cell phones, as Stefan and Charlie share a knowing look.

"It was 19…53," a male student answers, looking at Charlie and she gives him a flirty wink, before holding her fist out to Stefan, and he bumps his fist against hers while everyone claps for him.

After school, Charlie finds herself walking to her locker but she's stopped by Elena.

"Hey, Charlie," Elena smiles, and Charlie grins back at her.

"Hey, Elena," Charlie responds nicely.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Elena asks, and Charlie frowns a bit before shaking her head.

"Nothing I can think of. Why?" she asks, and Elena grins.

"Do you want to come over tonight for dinner? Stefan and Bonnie are coming, and I think it would be awesome for you to come, too. We can finally hang out," Elena says, and Charlie smiles at her.

"Sure, I'd love that," Charlie says, nodding, and Elena's grin widens.

"Great. So… Are you doing anything right now?" Elena asks, and Charlie shakes her head. "Why don't you come to cheerleading practice?"

"Please, please, please, don't tell me you're gonna try to convince me to join the cheerleading squad," Charlie begs with a frown.

"No," Elena laughs. "Stefan warned me not to even attempt it, because you'd say no. Just come watch. You'll get to see Stefan try out for football," Elena smiles.

"Stefan's trying out for the football team?" she asks, and Elena nods. "This I have to see," Charlie asks, grinning widely. Elena laughs and the two girls make their way out to the football field. Charlie spots Stefan watching the football team practice at the other side of the field, and she walks to the bleachers by where the cheerleaders are practicing, and takes a seat.

"Mm-hmm. You, me, Charlie, and Stefan. You have to give him a chance," Charlie hears Elena say, as she eavesdrops on the girls' conversation.

"Tonight's no good. Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times," Bonnie says.

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You're going to be there," Elena says, and Charlie smirks a bit.

"Fine. I'll go," Bonnie says with a sigh.

"Good," Elena says.

"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asks after a few moments.

"I don't know. It's not like her," Elena says.

"I'll try her again," Bonnie says, but as soon as she finishes her sentence, Caroline shows up in Damon's car. Elena and Bonnie watch as she kisses Damon and gets out of the car. "Oh, my God. That must be the mystery guy from the grill."

"That's not a mystery guy. That's Damon Salvatore," Elena says, and Charlie sits up straighter, before looking in the direction that she saw Caroline walk from. She stands when she sees her brother's car and she walks to the edge of the bleachers to see better.

"Salvatore, as in Stefan and Charlie?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie lets her face morph into a scowl when Damon looks up at her and smirks before driving away. Charlie shakes her head before looking at Caroline and she feels her scowl deepen when she sees a scarf around Caroline's neck. Charlie watches as Caroline tells Elena to just observe for the day so Elena walks to the bleachers, and Charlie stands up, letting her scowl disappear. She smiles at Elena, and meets her half way.

"Wanna go watch Stefan try out for football?" Charlie asks, and Elena grins a bit before nodding. The two girls walk closer to where the football team is practicing. Charlie grins at the sight of her brother doing so well on the field, and she sees Elena doing the same.

"Has he always been that good?" Elena asks, and Charlie laughs a bit.

"Always. Stefan loves football. Every year, he makes me watch the Super Bowl with him. Not kidding. Every. Year," Charlie says, and Elena laughs before they both return their attention to the football players. After a few minutes, Elena rejoins the cheerleaders, while Charlie continues to watch Stefan practice. She frowns when Stefan jumps up to catch the football, but Tyler tackles him to the ground.

"You gonna live, Salvatore?" she hears Tanner ask, after blowing a whistle.

"Yeah," Stefan calls back.

"Walk it off, son," Tanner says, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"Hey. That was my bad," Matt says, helping Stefan up off of the ground.

"It's alright," Stefan says.

"Yeah," Matt says, and walks away. Charlie cringes when Stefan takes off one of his gloves and she can see that his pinky finger is broken. Stefan easily snaps it back into place, and Charlie climbs up on the bleachers to watch Stefan practice. After about twenty minutes, Tanner stops the practice, but not before announcing that Stefan made the team. Charlie grins, and Stefan spots her, and gestures for her to wait for him, which she nods to, and he goes with the rest of the team to change. When he comes back out she beams at him.

"Well, well, well," Charlie says, and Stefan smiles. "I can't join the team. I'm a loner," Charlie says in her best masculine voice.

"Yeah, yeah," Stefan says, shoving her playfully.

**-TSBOF-**

"Of course it doesn't. I saw Elena today, BTW. That means "by the way." She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her little short shorts. Just... simmer down, I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now," Charlie hears Damon say as she walks to Stefan's room after changing her clothes.

"Speaking of which," she calls angrily, as she walks down the hallway, and she hears Damon groan. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asks as she enters Stefan's room.

"Well, I'd tell you, but you're my sister, and I doubt you want details," he says, and Charlie scrunches up her face in disgust.

"Look, Caroline's my friend. Leave. Her. Alone," Charlie growls, and Damon smirks at her.

"I don't think so, Charlie. I'm having _way _too much fun with the little blonde," Damon says, smirking at her. "Ooh, that reminds me... I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck," Damon says, and exits the room. Charlie starts to go after him, but Stefan grabs her.

"Don't. We'll keep an eye on Caroline and Damon. She'll be fine," Stefan says, and she looks at him incredulously. "I promise you, Charlie. She'll be alright."

"Fine," Charlie says irritably after a few moments of silence.

"Come on, we should go to Elena's," Stefan says, and Charlie nods. The twins leave the house, and Charlie lets Stefan drive her car while she sits in the passenger seat. They arrive at Elena's in minutes, and they walk up to the front door, which Stefan knocks on. The twins hear Elena walking to the door and she opens it, and smiles when she sees Stefan and Charlie on the other side.

"Hey," Elena says, opening the door wider. "Come on in," Elena says, and Stefan walks inside with Charlie following behind him, and she smiles when she finds that she can enter the house. "I'm really glad you two came."

"Of course," Stefan says.

"Wouldn't miss it," Charlie adds on as Elena shuts the door.

"This way," Elena says, gesturing for the twins to follow her, and she leads them to the dining room where she has everything ready. "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asks as everybody eats.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," Stefan says, smiling.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and-," Elena starts.

"Yeah, I heard," Bonnie cuts her off, and Stefan and Charlie share a look.

"Why don't you tell Stefan and Charlie about your family?" Elena suggests, and Bonnie sighs a bit.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad," Bonnie says, looking between Charlie and Stefan who both nod at her with a small smile.

"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool," Elena says, and Charlie's eyebrows rise.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie says, giving Elena a look.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s," Stefan says, looking at Bonnie.

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie says, and Charlie sits a little straighter in her seat next to Elena.

"Wow really? Salem witches?" Charlie asks, and Bonnie looks at her.

"Yeah," Bonnie answers, nodding.

"I think that's pretty cool," Charlie says with a smile.

"Me too," Stefan says.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie asks.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity," Stefan answers, and Bonnie looks at Charlie who smiles at her.

"Yeah, they are," Bonnie says, smiling as well. The small bit of silence is broken when the doorbell rings.

"I wonder who that could be," Elena mutters, standing from her seat and walking to the door.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert," they hear Caroline say happily, and Stefan and Charlie exchange a glance.

"Hope you don't mind," they hear Damon say, and Charlie's eyes widen slightly.

"Excuse me," Stefan says, and leaves the table.

"I should start clearing this stuff away," Bonnie says, standing.

"I'll help," Charlie says, and Bonnie smiles at her. The two of them work together to clear all of the dishes off of the table, and they bring them to the kitchen.

"So, where did you and Stefan live before you came to Mystic Falls?" Bonnie asks as they take the dishes to the kitchen.

"Boston," Charlie answers with a smile. "I can't say I'll miss it. It's way too loud there."

"Don't like big cities?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie shakes her head.

"It's not that I don't like them, I just prefer small towns like this. It's quiet. People are friendlier. And I love the activities that small towns always have. Like the carnivals, and fundraisers. I'm weird, but I love it," Charlie says.

"That's not weird. That's actually a good thing, because we have those kinds of things here all the time," Bonnie says with a laugh. Later on, after everyone had their desert, they all sit in Elena's living room, talking.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it," Caroline says, smiling at Stefan.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it. I say the same to Charlie, but she's never been one to listen to what her older brothers tell her," Damon says, smirking at Charlie who glowers at him.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines," Caroline says.

"I'll work with her. She'll get it," Bonnie says from the chair next to Charlie.

"I guess we can put her in the back," Caroline mutters to herself.

"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena," Damon says, looking at Elena.

"Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun," Caroline says, and everybody in the room frowns at her. "And I say that with complete sensitivity."

"I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan, Charlie, and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die," Damon says, and Charlie clears her throat.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan says, glancing at Charlie before looking at Damon.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up," Damon says, and Charlie sighs quietly. Elena uses the silence to excuse herself so that she can do the dishes. Damon picks up a glass and goes after her, and Charlie watches him with narrowed eyes.

"I want him away from Caroline," Charlie mutters under her breath so only Stefan can hear.

"I know. I'm working on it," Stefan mutters back while Caroline and Bonnie talk.

"You know what happens when he gets bored with a human, Stefan," Charlie says to him, lowly.

"I know, Charlotte," Stefan says, looking at her annoyed, and she glares at him. Bonnie excuses herself shortly after to go help Elena in the kitchen, and Caroline immediately starts talking to Stefan about Matt.

"Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox," Caroline says, and Stefan nods with a smile.

"You know, I really like your scarf, Caroline," Charlie says with a smile.

"Mm. Thank you, it's new," Caroline says, smiling back at Charlie, and Charlie walks over and takes Elena's vacated seat on the couch to be closer to Caroline.

"Would you mind taking it off? I'd really like to see it up close," Charlie says, tilting her head slightly.

"Oh, I can't," Caroline says.

"Oh… Is something wrong?" Charlie asks, frowning a bit.

"Um... All I know is that I can't take it off," Caroline says, shaking her head, looking a bit confused.

"What are you kids talking about?" Damon asks, re-entering the room, and Charlie softly sighs.

"I was just telling Caroline how much I like her scarf," Charlie says, and the two girls exchange a smile.

"Hmm. Hey, you know, um, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if you can help?" Damon says, looking down at Caroline.

"Does it look like I do dishes?" Caroline scoffs, looking at Stefan and Charlie with a smile, which they return.

"For me?" Damon asks, nicely.

"Hmm… I don't think so," Caroline says, and Charlie snorts in amusement.

"Go see if Elena needs help in the kitchen," Damon compels Caroline.

"You know what? I'm gonna go see if Elena needs some help in the kitchen," Caroline says to Damon.

"Great," he says, smiling at her.

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to," Stefan says after Caroline leaves.

"Sure she does. They all do. They're whatever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking," Damon says, and Charlie feels a growl form in her throat.

"All right, you've had your fun. You used Caroline, you got to meet Elena, good for you. Now it's time for you to go," Stefan says, looking at Damon intensely.

"That's not a problem. Because... I've been invited in, and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little cheerleader whatever I want to do. Because that is what is normal to me," Damon says, and Charlie shakes her head at him in disbelief. Her look of disbelief turns to one of blatant disappointment, before she stands.

"I'm leaving. Tell Elena that I said thanks for dinner, okay?" Charlie asks Stefan, and he nods before reaching into his pocket but Charlie shakes her head. "No you drive. I'll run," she says before walking out of Elena's house, and blurring back to the boarding house.

Later, Charlie sits in the living room, reading a book, and she looks up when Damon walks into the boarding house.

"Hey, princess," Damon says, smirking at Charlie as he walks past her. Charlie watches his retreating back for a few moments.

"Please don't kill her," she says softly, and Damon pauses, and turns around, looking at her with a small frown. "I'm not gonna bother asking you, or telling you to stay away from Caroline, because I know that you won't… So just… Please, Damon. Don't kill her."

"She's a human, Charlie. Why do you care so much?" Damon asks, frowning with annoyance.

"Because she's my friend Damon!" Charlie exclaims loudly, dropping her book to the floor and jumping to her feet. Damon raises an eyebrow at her, and he crosses his arms. "Your fight is with Stefan, so why is it that whenever you show up, it's _**my **_friends that you target to be your blood bags? It's always like that!" Charlie shouts, walking towards Damon, stopping only when she's inches away from him. "You drink from them, compel them, harass them, then when you get bored, you kill them and move on to the next one. Why do you do that? Are you trying to punish me or something? For staying with Stefan? Is that it?" she asks, and she lifts her eyebrows when he says nothing. "It is, isn't it?" she asks, and shakes her head before pushing past him. "I won't take it anymore, Damon. If you kill her, we're done. I only have so much forgiveness that I can give you," she calls over her shoulder as she walks into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

**-TSBOF-**

The next night, Charlie finishes putting on her make up when she hears her bedroom door open, and she glances at the door, rolling her eyes when she sees Damon standing there, leaning against the door frame.

"I'm surprised you didn't leave with Stefan," he says, smirking.

"Stefan had to be there early. I'm about to leave," she says, putting her make up back in the drawer in the bathroom before walking back out to her bedroom. She grabs her jacket and walks past Damon when she exits her room, but she frowns when Damon grabs her arm.

"Listen, I won't kill the blonde, okay?" Damon says, and she looks up at him.

"Promise me," Charlie says, seriously, and Damon rolls his eyes. "Damon, promise me you won't kill her."

"I promise," he says, mockingly.

"You promise what?" Charlie asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I promise that I won't kill your little friend," he says, narrowing his eyes at her. Charlie regards him for a moment before nodding.

"I have to go," she says, pulling her arm out of Damon's grasp, and walking down the hallway and out of the boarding house. She gets into her car, and quickly drives to the school, and when she arrives, she sees that the entire field is packed with students. She gets out of the car, leaving her jacket in the passenger seat, and begins weaving through the massive crowds, looking for her brother, Caroline, Bonnie, or Elena. She eventually finds Elena, and Elena smiles at her, waving her over.

"Hey," Elena says, smiling.

"Hey," Charlie says, and sees the necklace around Elena's neck. "Oh, he gave it to you!" she says, smiling.

"Yeah, I love it," Elena says, fiddling with the pendant fondly.

"He's had that thing for such a long time. I'm glad he finally found someone to give it to," Charlie says, and Elena's smile widens.

"I'm so glad you're not one of those sisters who automatically hate their brother's girlfriend," Elena says, and Charlie laughs.

"Of course not. You're a really cool person," Charlie says sincerely. "I actually usually try to make friends with my brothers' girlfriends."

"Were you friends with Katherine?" Elena inquires, and Charlie's smile drops slightly.

"No. No, I wasn't," Charlie says, shaking her head. "She wasn't a… Very nice person," she says, and Elena nods slightly, and goes to say something else but Tanner begins speaking into a microphone before she has the chance.

"Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!**" **Tanner shouts, and the crowd cheers. "But that is about to change," he says, and the crowd cheers. "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Tanner shouts, and Elena and Charlie join in with the cheering this time. The crowd listens as Tanner keeps talking, and Charlie watches as Stefan walks away from the crowd, and she frowns and follows him.

When she finds where Stefan is going, she sees two boys fighting, rolling around on the ground. She hurries over when Stefan pulls Tyler Lockwood off of Jeremy Gilbert and Tyler punches Stefan in the stomach. Tyler's eyes widen when the punch doesn't affect Stefan at all. Charlie watches as Jeremy picks up a broken bottle and Stefan pushes Tyler away. Charlie walks over in an attempt to stop him, and steps in front of Stefan just as Jeremy slashes the bottle toward Tyler, raising her hand to block her face, resulting in a deep gash in the palm of her hand.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena shouts, running over to her brother. Stefan puts his hands on both of Charlie's upper arms and pulls her away a bit.

"You alright?" he asks, turning her to face him.

"Yeah, just a cut," she says, and he shakes his head at her.

"That was stupid," Stefan scolds her, and she gives him a dry look, looking down at her hand that had already begun to heal.

"Oh, my God, Charlie your hand," Elena says, walking over to the twins, and Charlie closes her hand automatically, feeling the wound rapidly healing.

"No, Elena it's fine," Charlie says, shaking her head.

"Let me see it," Elena says, concerned, attempting to pry Charlie's hand open, and she opens her hand when she feels the gash completely heal over. "But... I saw it, it was...," Elena trails off, and Charlie frowns at her, feigning confusion.

"Saw what?" Charlie asks, shaking her head.

"The cut on your hand, there was… I know that I saw him cut you with that bottle!" Elena exclaims.

"No, he missed, Elena. I was here, I saw. He missed," Stefan says, and Elena shakes her head, frowning, looking between each of the twins. "Charlie, it's getting a little chilly out. Why don't you go get your jacket out of the car?" Stefan suggests, trying to get Charlie away from Elena. Charlie nods automatically, and sends Stefan a subtle grateful look before walking away to her car.

She reaches her car, and opens the passenger door to grab her jacket. She pulls on the leather jacket and shuts the door before leaning against it with a sigh. She rubs her forehead with the tips of her fingers, and listens to the crowd cheer for the football players.

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention," she hears Damon say a few minutes later when she pays attention to the conversations going on around her.

"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say," she hears Elena say, and she quietly moves in their direction. She stands behind a red truck, being able to see Elena and Damon without them seeing her.

"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you," Damon says, and Elena gives him a dry look.

"Really?" she asks.

"Mm-hmm. I see 'em. You want me," Damon says, and Charlie frowns.

"Excuse me?" Elena asks, frowning.

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me. And right now... You want to kiss me," he says, and waits for a few moments, and begins to lean closer to her. Charlie shakes her head, and narrows her eyes, but she's surprised when Elena slaps Damon across the face.

"What the hell? I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight... I am not Katherine," she says, and walks away. Charlie smirks at the scene, and decides to make her presence known.

"That was very impressive," Charlie says, smirking as she walks around the truck. "I can't help but feel proud of her."

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Damon asks, glaring harshly at Charlie.

"Nope. And if I did, I would have missed that little spectacle with Elena," Charlie says, tilting her head slightly.

"Listen," he says, moving to stand directly in front of her, and he grabs her arm harshly and tightly. "You're my little sister, and I can actually stand you, but you're really starting to aggravate me, Charlie. I would suggest you not get on my bad side," he says, squeezing her arm a bit tighter, and she gasps a bit as she feels the bone in her forearm crack, "because you should know that, that's not a place that you want to be."

"Let her go, Damon," Stefan says, appearing a few feet away from them with his arms crossed, looking at Damon with narrowed eyes.

"Ugh, saint Stefan, here to save the day," Damon says, mockingly. "Don't worry brother," he says, loosening the grip on Charlie's arm, and leaning forward and kissing her on the temple. "She's our baby sister. I'd never hurt her _too _badly," he says, and drops her arm completely.

"Yes, Damon, she's our sister, and you just broke her arm," Stefan says, angrily, and Charlie groans slightly when she feels the bones in her arm snap back into place.

"Sounds like she just healed," Damon says, grinning mockingly at Stefan. Charlie glares at her eldest brother and reaches out her hand quickly, gripping Damon's wrist, and squeezes with all of her strength, feeling an odd sense of satisfaction when she feels the bones shatter under her grip. Damon groans out in pain and wrenches his wrist out of her grip, glaring venomously at her.

"Next time it'll be your neck. Don't ever do that to me again, Damon. I'm your _sister_, not one of your little toys," Charlie growls, and brushes past him. "Let me know how the game goes when you get home, okay?"

"Yeah," Stefan says, keeping his eyes on Damon, and Charlie quickly walks over to her car before climbing inside and quickly driving back to the boarding house.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **Well, there's chapter three! I hope you all liked it! The poll is still open on who Charlie should end up with! Go vote!

**New outfits on Polyvore! Link on profile!**

**Questions?  
Comments?  
Suggestions?**

Leave them in a review!

**Reviewers and Replies:**

**grapejuice101****: **Thank you very much, I'm glad you think so! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**xxRAINBOWunicornsXX****: **I'll keep that in mind. :) Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**MelissaIsLame****: **I'm really glad you like the twin sibling-ness with Stefan and Charlie! And I agree… Damon really annoyed me in the first season, but oh well. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Tvdlover87654****: **I'm really glad you like Charlie/Stefan sibling bonding! I really put a lot of thought into those scenes. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**horsegirlrule****: **Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Mia: **Oh, don't worry. I definitely take those votes into consideration. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Luli Cullen****: **Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Edwardluver2000****: **Ah, agreed. Damon gets on my nerves as well during season one. And as for the changing the story thing… We'll just have to see. :) Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Lizbeth93****: **Hah, we'll see! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**BritanyJean****: **That's exactly what I was thinking about doing if I were to put Klaus and Charlie together, which is the strongest possibility right now. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**aligal528****: **I'm really glad you think that. Honestly, I prefer Stefan over Damon. And don't worry. I won't be pairing Charlie with anybody during this season or the next season. Season 1 and 2 are all about the friendships, and sibling relationships. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Sissymac****: **Thank you very much! I'm so glad you think so! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!


	4. Family Ties

**A/N: **A special thanks to **grapejuice101**for all of your help with this chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**Hold the Line – Toto (Damon and Charlie scene in her bedroom before the party)  
**

**-TSBOF-**

The next afternoon, Charlie walks into the boarding house after purchasing a few things from the grocery store. She walks to the kitchen and begins putting the food that she bought away in their respective cabinets, and the refrigerator. She glances behind her when she sees Zach walk into the kitchen, sending her a glance but otherwise ignoring her presence. She continues to put things away as Zach gets a glass of water, quickly drinks it and exits the kitchen.

"I didn't know you were here," she hears Zach say as he walks into the living room.

"Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why those two wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, the two of them went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either," she hears Damon say, and she rolls her eyes. She hadn't talked to her older brother since the night before when he broke her arm, and she has no plans to talk to him anytime soon. "Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?"

"Why are you here, Damon?" Zach asks, and Charlie listens closer.

"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important," Damon says, and Charlie snorts before shaking her head.

"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach asks, and then everything grows quiet which makes Charlie frown.

"You are in no position to question me," Damon says, lowly, and Charlie stiffens.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Zach gasps, and Charlie blurs into the room, and she glares when she sees Damon choking him. She uses her enhanced speed, and grabs Damon by the shoulder and throws him across the room, causing him to land on a coffee table, effectively destroying it.

"Leave. Him. Alone, Damon," Charlie growls, barring her fangs at him. She visibly readies herself for a fight when Damon gets up, and growls.

"What's going on?" Stefan asks, coming into the room, and he frowns, seeing his two siblings glaring murderously at each other. Damon breaks the angry staring contest between him and his sister to look at Stefan, and he plasters a fake smirk on his face.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time," Damon says, and exits the room. Charlie watches his retreating form angrily and slowly lets her face shift back to normal. Stefan looks at Charlie worriedly before he looks at Zach who is sitting on the floor, catching his breath.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asks, attempting to help Zach up, but Zach pushes his hands away.

"No, I'm not. And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that?" Zach asks, loudly.

"We see it. All right, Zach, we see it," Stefan says, and Charlie turns around to face them.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach asks, exasperatedly.

"I can't, Zach. I can't. It would take human blood. It's the only way that I could stop him, and I can't do that," Stefan asks, and Zach looks at Charlie expectantly.

"Damon's older than I am. Not by much, but he's still stronger than me," Charlie explains.

"The vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. It would help get you the upper hand," Zach says quietly, and Charlie frowns.

"Yeah, it would, but vervain hasn't grown here since the late 1800's. Damon made sure of that," Charlie says, shaking her head.

"The little I had, I gave to Elena," Stefan says, and Zach gives them both a look. "What?" Stefan asks, frowning. Zach nods for them to follow him, and he walks away. Stefan and Charlie share a look, and follow him. Zach leads the twins to the basement, and to one of the multiple rooms of the cellar, before pushing open the door. Charlie and Stefan walk into the room, and Charlie's eyebrows raise when she sees several potted plants of vervain growing underneath a light.

"You've been growing it," Stefan says, looking at Zach, mildly impressed.

"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires. Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it," Zach says, looking between the twins.

"Why are you telling us?" Charlie asks, curiously.

"Because I trust you both. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him," Zach says, and Stefan nods. Stefan looks at Charlie who is eyeing the vervain nervously.

"Hey, you know we have to do this. If we don't, he'll only kill more people, including Caroline," Stefan says, and Charlie shakes her head.

"He promised me that he wouldn't kill her," Charlie says, and Stefan stares at her. Charlie looks at him and her face morphs into a glare when she sees the obvious pity in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Stefan. Damon may break his promises to you, but he's never broken a promise to me. Ever."

"Charlie-," Stefan starts, but Charlie shakes her head.

"No, Stefan. Look… I won't say anything… But I don't want to be a part of this," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.

"I never expected you to help me, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie nods before turning around and slowly making her way upstairs. She pulls her phone out of her pocket when it vibrates with a text, and she sees that she received a message from an unknown number. She opens up the message and her eyebrows rise in slight surprise.

'Are you going to the Founder's Party? – Bonnie'

'Wasn't exactly planning on it since both brothers have dates,' she texts back before saving Bonnie's number in her cell phone.

'Wanna go as girl-dates?' Bonnie asks, and Charlie chuckles a bit as she heads up to her bedroom.

'Sounds fun. Meet you there at around… Say 5?' Charlie asks, and picks up her iPod when she shuts her bedroom door. She scrolls through her music and plugs the device into the iPod Dock before turning on Hold the Line by Toto, and letting the music blare through the speakers.

'Sounds good :),' Bonnie texts back, and Charlie grins slightly before setting her phone down. She walks over to her closet and pushes all of her tops and jackets out of the way and pulls the dresses she owns forward, and begins looking through them. She glances behind her slightly when she hears her door open and she sees Damon enter the room. She rolls her eyes slightly and begins looking through her dresses again.

"Mad at me?" Damon asks, and Charlie snorts in disbelief. "I brought a peace offering," Damon says, and Charlie hears him holding something up. She reluctantly turns around and sees Damon holding up a package of Oreo cookies. Charlie narrows her eyes at him, and crosses her arms.

"What's the catch?" Charlie asks, and Damon plasters an offended look on his face.

"Do I have to have a reason to give my baby sister her favorite snack?" Damon asks, and Charlie simply stares at him blankly. Damon frowns slightly and shakes his head. "I just realized how similar yours and Stefan's facial expressions are. Weird. But no," he says, looking at the package of Oreos and back to her. "Call them apology cookies."

"You don't apologize," Charlie says, rolling her eyes.

"Why do you think I brought the cookies?" he asks, and pulls the package open, and Charlie's eyes zero in on the opening of the package, and she narrows her eyes when Damon goes to take one, and she rushes forward and takes the package out of his hands, holding them to her chest protectively.

"You can't break my arm and just expect me to forgive you," Charlie says, giving him a look before glancing at the Oreos in her hand before taking one out and taking a bite out of it and nodding. "The Oreos are a nice touch though," she says before setting the package down on the desk by her closet.

"The wrist breaking retaliation was pretty impressive," Damon says, moving to Charlie's bookcase and looking through the various titles.

"Yeah, well like I've said, I drink human blood. I stand a fair chance against you," Charlie says, going back to looking through her dresses. "Ugh, I can't find a stupid dress for this stupid party."

"If it's so stupid, then why are you going?" Damon asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Because Bonnie asked me if I'd go with her," Charlie says, taking out a blue dress and looking it over.

"Oh, not you, too," Damon groans, pulling a book off of her bookcase. "You're a vampire. Why are you reading this?" he asks, and she looks at the book, and she grins slightly seeing 'Twilight' in his hand.

"I bought it to see what the hype was about. The vampires in it are stupid, but all in all it's actually pretty well written. I saw the movie too, and it was _pretty _lame," Charlie says, putting the blue dress back, and crossing her arms while looking at the other dresses. She pulls out a few dresses and lays them on her bed, before looking them over properly.

"There's been many times where I've been proud to call you my little sister… Now isn't really one of those times," Damon says, before snagging a few of Charlie's cookies, and making to leave the room. "Go with the burgundy dress," he says over his shoulder before shutting the door to her room as he leaves. She glances at the door before looking at the burgundy spaghetti strap dress, and she picks it up, and walks into her bathroom to look into the full length mirror. She tilts her head slightly as she holds the dress to her body, and she shrugs before hanging the dress up on the towel rack. She carefully applies her makeup, and curls her hair before finally changing into the dress. She walks back to her bedroom, her bare feet padding on the hardwood floor, and she ducks into her closet, and sorts through her many pairs of shoes. After about five minutes, she finds a pair of burgundy colored heels, and she slips them onto her feet.

She walks to her nightstand and looks at her phone, and it shows that she has fifteen minutes before she has to meet Bonnie at the Lockwood property. She puts on a couple of pieces of jewelry and puts her cell phone in a clutch bag along with her car keys, and she exits her bedroom. She carefully walks down the stairs in her heels, and she sees Stefan and Zach standing in the hallway leading to the front door.

"It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon," Stefan says, and she watches as Zach hands Stefan a small vial filled with a clear liquid, and she can smell the scent of vervain coming from the closed vial.

"I doubled what I put in the scotch," Zach says, and Stefan nods, before noticing Charlie standing at the end of the hallway, watching the exchange with sad eyes. He looks at her apologetically and she looks at the floor for a few short moments before she walks forward, taking her car keys out of her bag.

"Do you… Want a ride to Elena's?" Charlie asks Stefan as he puts the vervain into his jacket pocket.

"Yeah," Stefan says. "Let's go," he says, placing a hand on her back and leading her out of the house. The two of them get into her car once they reach it, and most of the ride to Elena's is spent in silence. Stefan looks over at his twin on the way to Elena's and he frowns when he sees the guilty look in her eyes as she watches the road. "I'm sorry that we have to do this, Charlie."

"No… No you aren't. We both know that it has to be done," Charlie says in a defeated voice. Charlie pulls up in front of Elena's house, and Stefan exits the car. He leans down before shutting the door, and looks at Charlie for a few moments.

"You look beautiful, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie grins at him.

"You look pretty dashing yourself, Stef," Charlie says, and Stefan smiles at her before shutting the car door, and walking up to Elena's front door. Charlie pulls away from Elena's house and drives to the Lockwood mansion right on time. She gets out of her car and immediately sees Bonnie standing nearby. The two girls smile at each other as Charlie approaches her.

"Hey Charlie. You look so different!" Bonnie exclaims. "I'm so used to seeing you in jeans and combat boots. You look great!"

"Well, thank you," Charlie laughs. "You look great, too!"

Bonnie thanks her with a smile and the two girls chat as they wait in the line to get into the Lockwood's home. When they finally reach the mayor and his wife, Mrs. Lockwood smiles at Bonnie.

"Bonnie! How great to see you, you look lovely!" Mrs. Lockwood says with a smile, and she looks at Charlie with a polite smile. "And I don't believe we've met," she says, and Charlie smiles at her.

"Charlotte Salvatore, it's so great to meet you Mrs. Lockwood, Mayor Lockwood," Charlie says formally, shaking both of their hands.

"It's great to meet you too, sweetheart," Mayor Lockwood says with a smile. "You two go on inside. Enjoy the party," he says, gesturing to the house.

"Thank you," Charlie says with a smile, and she and Bonnie both enter the lavish mansion. Bonnie looks at Charlie with an impressed grin, and Charlie raises a questioning eyebrow. "Manners were really drilled into mine and my brothers' heads as children."

"Makes sense, now," Bonnie says. "I've never met anyone with such formal manners before."

"Well, now you have a friend who's an expert at them," Charlie smiles. "I can identify every type of fork, spoon, knife, plate, bowl, and glass at a formal dinner party, and I know exactly when to use them all and on what to use them on."

"I've attempted to learn all of that, but there's so much to remember," Bonnie complains, and Charlie nods with a laugh.

"I know, it took me such a long time to learn," she says, taking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, and grabbing another and handing it to Bonnie. "At parties like this everyone's of age," Charlie says, and takes a drink. Bonnie laughs and takes a drink of hers as well. Charlie and Bonnie walk through the house for a few minutes, and Bonnie stops Charlie and watches a red haired woman and a man who Charlie recognizes as Logan Fell converse.

"Whoa, hey, not so fast. I know you. You have a lot more insults in you, I can tell," Logan says.

"Your hairline's receding," the woman says, and Bonnie snorts in amusement.

"No, it's not. You want to have lunch?" Logan asks.

"Nope," the woman responds immediately.

"You haven't changed a bit," the man says with a grin.

"Oh, yes, I have. I'm meaner now," the woman says, and turns around to leave and she practically runs into Bonnie. "Oh, sorry Bonnie. I guess you saw all of that?"

"Yeah, and it was awesome," Bonnie laughs. "Jenna, this is Charlie Salvatore. Charlie, this is Elena's aunt Jenna."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Charlie says with a smile, and Jenna smiles back.

"You too, Charlie," Jenna says.

"So what was that with Logan Fell?" Bonnie asks.

"Ex-boyfriend. Messy breakup. He's a real scumbag," Jenna sneers, and Charlie glances behind Jenna and watches Logan converse with other people.

"I recognize him from the news… I'm not too sure about him. He has a big forehead," Charlie says, and Jenna laughs.

"I like you already," Jenna says, and Charlie grins at her. Charlie excuses herself and goes into the room with all of the founding family heirlooms where she sees Stefan and Elena looking at the items. Elena turns slightly and sees Charlie enter the room.

"Hey, Charlie. You look amazing," Elena says with a grin, and Charlie smiles back.

"Thanks, Elena, so do you," she says, and starts to look over the items in the room.

"'The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration.'," Elena reads and Charlie looks at Stefan when she hears Elena read off the title of the aged document hanging, framed on the wall. Stefan exchanges a look with his sister, and looks back at Elena. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? Charlotte Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore?"

"The original Salvatore siblings. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually," Damon says entering the room with Caroline.

"Our parents thought it would be a good idea to name us after them. They had two boys and a girl. Our parents had two boys and a girl. It was like it was meant to be," Charlie says, and Elena smiles at her.

"But we don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan interjects, giving Damon a look.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family," Elena says, looking at Stefan.

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me," Caroline whines, and looks at Elena.

"Mm-Mmm," Damon says, shaking his head.

"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asks.

"Speaking of, I should probably go find Bonnie," Charlie says, and exits the room in search for her new friend. Charlie searches for a few minutes before she finally finds Bonnie wandering around by herself. She walks up behind the girl and puts a hand on her shoulder, smiling apologetically when Bonnie jumps. "Hey, sorry."

"Its fine," Bonnie says with a smile.

"So, what's there to do at these things?" Charlie asks as the two girls walk through the house.

"Well…," Bonnie trails off with a laugh. "Um… There's drinking," Bonnie says, holding up her freshly refilled champagne glass, and Charlie laughs. "Actually, I was kind of hoping to talk to you… About your brothers."

"Please tell me that you don't have a crush on them too," Charlie says, looking at Bonnie a bit agitated, and Bonnie smiles as she shakes her head.

"No, nothing like that… It's about something that Caroline told me," Bonnie says, as they walk outside. They both sit down at a table, and Bonnie looks at Charlie seriously. "It's about their ex, Katherine," Bonnie says, and she doesn't miss the light scowl that crosses Charlie's face. "I… I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, I'm just trying to look out for Elena."

"Oh, believe me that face wasn't directed to you. In all honesty I hated Katherine," Charlie says, looking at Bonnie.

"Because she's the reason your brothers don't get along?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie nods. "I'm not supposed to be saying anything. Caroline swore me to secrecy, but I just… Need to know, for Elena."

"Well, ask me anything. I'd be happy to answer," Charlie says with a slight smile.

"Okay. Well, Caroline said that Damon told her that Katherine dated them both," Bonnie says, and Charlie nods, confirming what she's just said. "And that Katherine chose Damon. And after she chose Damon, it drove Stefan crazy, so he manipulated Katherine and did horrible things to break them up and turn her against Damon, and that it finally worked and that's why they hate each other," Bonnie says, and she watches Charlie's face go from blank to humored.

"Of course that's what he said," Charlie mutters to herself. "Okay, listen, I love both of my brothers. I love Damon dearly, but to be completely honest… You can't trust a word he says most of the time. That's not how that situation happened at all. I know it's wrong to speak ill of the dead and all that, but Katherine was a horrible, manipulative person who turned my brothers against each other. Trust me when I say that Stefan is not that kind of person. I promise you that," Charlie says, and Bonnie can see the honesty in her eyes and she nods with a small smile.

"That makes me feel a lot better about him being with Elena," Bonnie says, and Charlie grins.

"You're a really good friend, Bonnie," Charlie says, and Bonnie laughs a bit. "Well, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get a drink. Will you watch this for me?" Charlie asks, leaving her clutch bag on the table as she stands, and Bonnie nods. Charlie walks away, and finds a waiter with a tray of champagne glasses. She takes one with a smile and turns to go back to go back to the table. As she approaches she sees Bonnie focusing on a candle and when she's nearly to the table, the candle ignites on its own. Charlie can't fight the small grin that comes to her face as Bonnie looks a bit startled, and she notices that Charlie had been watching. "That was amazing," Charlie says, giving Bonnie a smile, trying to lessen Bonnie's terrified face.

"Please, don't tell anybody you saw that," Bonnie says, panicked.

"Hey, relax," Charlie says, sitting down in her previously vacated chair. "I won't tell anyone."

"You don't look very shocked," Bonnie acknowledges.

"As hard as it might be to believe, I've met a witch before," Charlie says, and Bonnie looks at her wide eyed.

"You have? Who? What's her name?" Bonnie asks, leaning forward, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Her name was Emily," Charlie says.

"Was?" Bonnie asks, disappointed.

"Yeah, she passed away. She was… Pretty old," Charlie says, and Bonnie nods, leaning back in her seat.

"It's official. I'm a freak," Bonnie says, and Charlie shakes her head.

"No. You aren't. I think it's awesome," Charlie grins, and Bonnie raises an eyebrow.

"Really?" she asks, a little disbelieving.

"God's honest truth," she responds, raising a hand, and Bonnie grins a bit. "Oh, I don't like the look of that," Charlie says, looking out onto the dance floor and seeing Elena and Stefan in the midst of an argument. Bonnie and Charlie watch as Elena says something and walks away.

"I'm gonna go see what's wrong. Wanna come?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie shakes her head.

"I think she just needs her best friend, not the sister of the guy she's mad at," Charlie says, and Bonnie nods before taking off in the direction of her best friend. Stefan notices Charlie sitting at a table and he makes his way over to her. Charlie looks at him as he takes Bonnie's vacated chair. "That looked interesting," Charlie comments, and Stefan gives her a look. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"You didn't hear?" Stefan asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I was kind of talking to Bonnie," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.

"It's Damon. He said something to her, and she started asking about Katherine," Stefan says, and opens his mouth to say more.

"Let me stop you right there. Okay, so it may not be so much of Damon saying something directly to her, as him saying something to somebody else, and it being passed through the grapevine," Charlie says.

"Caroline?" Stefan guesses, and Charlie nods.

"Which got passed on to Bonnie, who passed it onto Elena, and then came to me for answers," Charlie says, and Stefan sighs.

"What did he say?" Stefan asks.

"Well, according to Damon, Katherine chose him, and it drove you crazy, so you did horrible things to break them up, and manipulated Katherine to turn her against Damon. So basically you're a manipulative liar," Charlie says, and Stefan rolls his eyes. "Don't worry. I set the record straight. I didn't tell her everything, but I did say that Damon lies, and not to listen to what he says. I think I've actually told Elena that before," she muses, and Stefan nods.

"Thanks for that, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie waves him off.

"I'm completely on team 'Stefan and Elena being together'. I'm doing everything to keep you two together," Charlie says. "You're happier with her. I can tell. And that's all I want is for my twin to be happy, Stef," Charlie says, and Stefan grins at her, before reaching over and squeezing her hand gently in thanks. "This party is boring. I can't believe I found this fun when I was still human," Charlie groans.

"You found it fun because your date was George Lockwood," Stefan says, raising an eyebrow at her, and Charlie ponders this for a few moments before smiling.

"Oh yeah," she grins. "You know, he was perfect for me. I liked him, papa liked him," Charlie lists.

"I hated him," Stefan interjects, and Charlie rolls her eyes at him.

"You hate every guy that shows an interest in me," Charlie says.

"Because they aren't good enough for you," Stefan says, narrowing his eyes at Charlie.

"According to you, no ones good enough for me," Charlie points out, and Stefan nods in agreement which makes Charlie scoff and push his shoulder playfully. "It's kind of funny that you still have the same mindset 150 years later."

"150 years doesn't make you any less of my little sister," Stefan says seriously.

"Three minutes, Stefan!" Charlie exclaims, and Stefan chuckles at her.

"Still counts," he says, getting up and walking away.

"There is something seriously wrong with you," Charlie hears Elena's voice say loudly, and she looks over and her eyes widen slightly when she sees Elena practically shouting at Damon. "You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her," Elena says, and walks away. Charlie stiffens at the look on Damon's face, and she gets up, quickly grabbing her clutch bag, and speed jogging over to Damon.

"Please don't do anything stupid, Damon," Charlie says, following Damon as he begins walking toward the house.

"Go home, Charlie," Damon says, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Remember your promise, Damon," Charlie counters, and Damon pauses, and turns around, facing her.

"How could I forget, Charlie?" Damon asks in a nice tone which Charlie sees through immediately. "You look bored. Why don't you go home?" he asks, turning around and walking away from her. Charlie turns around and looks at Stefan who is speaking with Elena, and she has an internal debate on whether or not she should follow Damon, or go to Stefan. She shakes her head and decides to follow Damon to prevent him from doing something stupid. She scours the house for her eldest brother, and she frowns when she can't find him. She goes back outside to enlist Stefan's help, but that idea is shot down when she finds Damon dragging Caroline out of the house by the arm. Her eyes widen and she starts over to them, but she's grabbed around the waist, and pulled back. She immediately fights out of the person's hold, and she quickly spins around with a glare but her glare lessens when she sees Stefan. He shakes his head, and looks over her shoulder at Damon and Caroline. Charlie watches the scene and moves forward when Damon bites Caroline, but Stefan stops her.

"I took care of it. She'll be fine," Stefan says, and Charlie growls slightly as Caroline falls to the ground and Damon kneels beside her, his mouth still on her neck. A moment later, Damon pulls away, and falls to the ground beside her, and Stefan looks at Charlie. "Meet me at the house. Go," Stefan says, and Charlie nods before looking around. She sees that everybody is distracted, so she uses her enhanced speed to blur to her car, and she quickly gets inside. She takes out her phone to send a quick text to Bonnie, but she finds that she's already received a text from the girl saying that she'd already headed home.

When she arrives at the boarding house, she hears the sound of one of the metal doors in the basement being shut, and the sound of two people coming up the stairs as she enters the house. When she approaches the basement door, she sees Zach and Stefan return upstairs, and she frowns slightly. Stefan opens his mouth to say something but she holds up a hand and shakes her head.

"I understand. I'm gonna go change out of this dress," Charlie says, taking off her heels and going upstairs to her bedroom. She slowly changes out of her dress and into her pajamas, before going into her bathroom and washing the makeup off of her face. She pulls her curled hair up into a messy bun, and puts some slippers on her feet before exiting her bedroom after grabbing her package of Oreos. She slowly drags her feet to Stefan's bedroom, and she pushes the door open and unsurprisingly finds him writing in his journal. He looks up when he hears the door open, and he's not surprised to find Charlie standing in the doorway. She moves into the room and shuts the door behind her, and trudges over to his bed and sits down on it. "Go ahead and say it," she says, moving to sit in the middle of his bed, and pulling out a cookie before taking a bite out of it. "I deserve it."

"Say what?" Stefan asks, frowning at Charlie and shutting his journal.

"'I told you so'," Charlie says, deepening her voice in an attempt to mimic Stefan. "You tried to tell me not to trust him, and I did. I trusted him not to try to kill Caroline and he did."

"You couldn't have known," Stefan says, crossing the room to sit on his bed next to Charlie. Charlie gives him an 'are you serious' look.

"This is Damon," Charlie says, and Stefan nods.

"But you were right earlier. Despite everything he's done, he's never broken a promise to you. Until now," Stefan says. Charlie nods, and eats another cookie. She looks around a bit, and sighs.

"We need a television in this place," Charlie grumbles, and Stefan smiles at her.

"Why don't we get one tomorrow?" he asks, and Charlie raises her eyebrows. "I'm not going back to school until this whole thing with Damon is sorted out, and I don't think you should either. We're gonna need to work together on this."

"Yeah… I know," she says. The two of them sit on Stefan's bed and talk for a few minutes before Charlie decides to leave Stefan's room. She puts her cookies back in her bedroom, and stands in the middle of her room for a few moments before exiting her bedroom again. She quietly goes downstairs and makes her way to the basement. She walks through the basement until she finds the cell that Damon is in and she looks inside and sees his unconscious body lying on the floor. She sighs lightly and leans on the wall beside the door, and slowly slides down the wall until she's sitting on the dirt covered floor. After a few minutes of sitting on the floor, lost in thought, she stands and goes to the freezer and grabs a blood bag for herself, and quickly drains it before tossing the empty bag in the waste basket in the room. She blinks a bit when she hears the sound of Damon groaning, and she walks back to the cell door and looks inside. She sees his eyes open slightly, and he looks at her.

"I should have known you were on his side," Damon says bitterly, and Charlie frowns.

"I don't take sides," Charlie says. "But if I had to take sides right now, I would choose Stefan's since you attempted to kill Caroline. You promised me Damon. You said you wouldn't kill her."

"She's not dead now, is she?" Damon asks, and Charlie glares at him.

"That's not the point, Damon. If Stefan wouldn't have put vervain in her drink, you would have killed her," Charlie says, and Damon weakly rolls his eyes.

"Well, it looks like you won't have to worry about that anymore since you and Stefan conspired against me, poisoned me, and threw me in here. What's the next part of your big plan Charlotte? Wait until I'm weaker, and then shove a stake in my heart? I know Stefan's probably been itching to do that for more than a century," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes at him.

"Don't be so dramatic, Damon. You know I'd never let Stefan kill you," Charlie says.

"Do I? I never thought you'd do this to me either, but here I am," Damon says.

"Contrary to your belief, I didn't play a part in this. I told Stefan that I didn't want any part in this," Charlie says.

"How noble of you," Damon mutters, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"Well, I guess I'll just leave you to your thoughts then. Sleep well, big brother," Charlie sneers angrily, and storms away, back up the basement stairs, and she slams the basement door behind her. She turns the corner, and isn't surprised to find Stefan leaning against the wall. "I guess you heard everything?"

"Yeah. To be honest I was half expecting you to give him some blood," Stefan says, and Charlie gives him a humorless half smile.

"To be honest I almost did," Charlie says, before moving past him and heading to her bedroom. She stops halfway up the stairs and turns around sees Stefan still in his original place. "Thank you for what you did, Stefan. You saved Caroline, and I appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie smiles at him before retreating to her bedroom, and that's where she stays for the rest of the night.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **I know it's kind of shorter than normal, but this episode wasn't the most exciting. I promise the next one will be better! Remember, the poll is still open! If you haven't voted, go vote! I'll be closing it soon since I'm going to start planning on future chapters.

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**Reviewers and Replies: **

**grapejuice101****: **Thank you very much; I'm glad you think so! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**imaddictedtocarrots****: **Haha, we'll see! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Purelight97: **I know I feel bad for him. But during the last episode, I really liked all of the Mabekah. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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**Kaj: **Hah, well I'm glad you like that! I can't have Charlie just sit there and take Damon's mild abuse. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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**DiannaSalvatore: **I know, I was sad that Kol died, too. I actually have a Kol/OC story going as well in case you haven't read it yet! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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**SassyKenderson****: **I'm really glad you like Charlie and the relationship with both of her brothers. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!


	5. You're Undead To Me

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**None for this chapter guys!**

**-TSBOF-**

"We do _not _need a television that big, Charlie," Stefan says, pinching the bridge of his nose, annoyed as Charlie insists on getting a large 72 inch flat screen television. A worker stands patiently nearby, watching the pair of siblings argue with a semi-amused look on his face.

"Yes we do, Stefan," Charlie insists, putting her hand on the display television lovingly. "Look at it. We look great together," she says, grinning. "We need this TV. Uh, we'll take this one," Charlie says, turning to face the worker.

"No, we won't," Stefan says, and Charlie glares at him. "Where would we put a television this big?"

"The living room," she says.

"Where?" he asks and an image of the boarding house's living room flashes in her mind. She frowns a bit, and thinks of a few other rooms.

"The parlor upstairs!" she chirps, and Stefan simply stares at her, not being able to debate this, and she grins before turning to the worker. "We'll take this one."

"Great," he says, smiling at the twins. "I'll be right back with your TV."

"How are we gonna get it home?" Stefan asks, and the grin slips off of Charlie's face.

"It… Should fit in the backseat," Charlie mutters, and Stefan smirks at her. "We're getting this TV. The satellite guy's coming this afternoon, so we have to have this all hooked up and ready for him. Let's get an X-Box!"

"No," Stefan says, and Charlie pouts at him. "We came here for a television."

"What's a television without an X-Box?" Charlie asks, and Stefan rolls his eyes. Charlie grins and starts over towards the game systems, but Stefan grabs her arm without looking at her. Charlie pulls her arm out of his grip, but stops when she sees the worker wheeling out the large box that contains their television. The twins follow him to the counter, and he rings up their total which Charlie gladly pays for with one of her credit cards.

"Would you like me to wheel it out there?" the worker asks, and Charlie simply waves him off.

"Nah, we got it. Thanks," she smiles, and she and Stefan each lift the box on either side, and they walk out of the store. Once out to the car, it takes a lot of moving and situating the box, but they finally make it fit in the backseat. Charlie shuts the back door, and puts her hands on her hips, smiling triumphantly. "Oh, I'm so excited," Charlie says, happily. "I love modern technology. There's so much more to do nowadays."

"That television is obnoxious," Stefan mutters, and she rolls her eyes at him.

"I'm almost positive you won't be saying that during the Super Bowl. I can almost guarantee you'll commandeer that TV, and won't let me play on my future X-Box because you'll be too busy watching football," she says, mockingly. "I bet you'd snap my neck if I tried to turn off one of your little football games."

"You know I wouldn't do that," Stefan scoffs, and Charlie raises her eyebrows as she drives to the boarding house.

"Do I? I clearly remember back in 1987 when-," Charlie starts.

"It was the final game, and it was almost over," Stefan says, narrowing his eyes at her, and she laughs.

"I was just gonna turn the TV down, and you broke my hand!" Charlie exclaims, shaking her head at him. She hears him mumble something incoherent under his breath, and she smirks at him. They finally arrive at the boarding house, and Stefan watches in amusement as Charlie struggles to get the obnoxiously large box out of the backseat of her car. Even with her vampire strength, she has a hard time getting the box out of the vehicle. "Could you stop grinning and help me?" Charlie asks, narrowing her eyes at him. "I feel like I'm trying to pull the sword from the stone."

"Hey, get it out and they'll crown you king," Stefan says, and she sneers at him before finally pulling the box loose and she smiles triumphantly. "Hail King Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie laughs at him.

"That's right. Now it is decreed that you will take the king's new television set into the house. Now, snap to," Charlie says, and points to the box. Stefan rolls his eyes, and pulls the box out of the car, and uses his enhanced strength to carry it into the house.

"If this king thing lasts more than today, I'll break this TV," Stefan says, and the smug look on Charlie's face drops dramatically. She walks ahead of Stefan and pushes the front door of the house open, and he walks inside, having to walk sideways to fit through the doorway. She shuts the door behind them, and sees Zach walking out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee, and she gives him a wide grin.

"Look at our new TV!" she chirps, and he blinks a few times.

"It's… Really big. Do we really need a TV that big?" Zach asks her and she pouts.

"That's what I said," Stefan grumbles, heading to the stairs. "Charlie, get over here and help me take this upstairs."

"Excuse me. I'm the king," Charlie remarks, biting back a laugh when she sees the frustration on Stefan's face.

"Now, or I drop it," he says, and she rolls her eyes before walking forward and taking one of the corners of the box.

"You get to walk backwards, grumpy," Charlie says. "You two keep complaining about the size, but I just know that you'll be watching football games on that TV like it's nobody's business."

**-TSBOF-**

At around three o'clock the next morning, Charlie lies in her bed, wide awake. She hadn't been able to sleep well since Stefan had locked Damon in that cell in the basement. Despite everything that Damon's done, Charlie can't stand the thought of her eldest brother wasting away in the basement. She shakes her head and climbs out of bed before silently exiting her room, and making her way to the basement. Once in the basement, she walks to the freezer with her blood bags, and she takes one out. She scours the basement for a vial, and after a few minutes, she finally finds a small one. She fills it up and corks it before making her way to the cell that Damon's in.

"Damon," she whispers to his sleeping form. When he's unresponsive, she huffs, and looks around a bit. She finds a small piece of wood on the ground and she picks it up before reaching her hand between the bars on the door, and tossing the piece of wood at him. She smirks when it hits him on the side of his head, and he groans a bit. "Hey, Damon," she whispers, and he leans up slightly and looks at her.

"What are you doing down here? Your turn to inject me with vervain?" Damon asks, and Charlie frowns slightly.

"No… I came to give you this," she says, holding up the vial of blood. Damon stares hungrily at the blood, and she tosses it to him. He catches it easily and un-stoppers it before quickly drinking the blood. "It won't do much with all of the vervain in your system but… It's better than nothing."

"Why did you give me any at all?" Damon asks weakly, dropping the vial on the ground beside him, and Charlie twists her daylight ring around on her middle finger.

"Because you're my brother," Charlie says, and takes a few steps away from the door before heading upstairs. She listens closely for any signs of Stefan being awake, and she's satisfied when she hears nothing. She quietly makes her way back to her bedroom, and finally falls asleep.

The next morning, Charlie sits at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, completely dressed, and ready for school. She grins at Zach when he walks into the kitchen, and he gives her a small smile in return. Zach had definitely eased up around Charlie and Stefan since Damon had been locked away in the cellar, and Charlie loves it. She takes a drink out of her mug of coffee before grabbing Stefan's iPhone and starting a game of Fruit Ninja.

"I love this game. I need an iPhone," Charlie mutters, and glances at the doorway when she hears Stefan approaching.

"He's awake. He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement. He's Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be," Stefan says before snatching his phone out of Charlie's hands, ignoring her cry of protest.

"You're going to school?" Zach asks, eyeing Stefan's school bag.

"Came here to live a life. It's about time we get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me," Stefan says, gesturing for Charlie to get up. She quickly finishes the coffee in her mug and stands, taking her mug to the sink.

"Why haven't you called her?" Zach asks.

"What am suppose to do, feed her another lie? I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something," Stefan says.

"Because you are," Charlie points out, and Stefan glares at her.

"What choice do you have? You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it," Zach says.

"I say we tell her. Take the vervain off, tell her, see how she takes it and if she takes it bad, compel the memory away and give her the necklace back," Charlie says, and Stefan rolls his eyes.

"You sound like Damon," Stefan says, and Charlie gasps in mock offense.

"I think it's a smart plan!" she exclaims as the two of them go to exit the house. "It's better than lying all the time. You don't even have to do it. I will."

"No, Charlotte," Stefan says, firmly, and she raises her hands in a 'surrendering' motion.

"No need to go all full first name on me. It was just a suggestion," she says as the two of them get into her car. "A smart suggestion. You should really think it over."

"There's nothing to think over," Stefan says.

"She's gonna find out eventually. What happens in a few years when she gets older and we have to leave because we're not aging?" she asks, glancing at him.

"You say that like I haven't already thought about that a million times," Stefan mutters, and Charlie sighs. "I'm done talking about this."

"Fine," Charlie says, while rolling her eyes. Charlie parks her car in the parking lot, and the twins exit the car before walking into the school. Charlie stops at her locker while Stefan goes to find Elena. She pulls her first period book out of her locker, and puts her bag inside of her locker.

"Hey, you're back!" Charlie hears a peppy voice say from behind her. She turns around and smiles when she sees Caroline approaching her.

"Sure am," Charlie responds, balancing her book in one arm.

"Where've you been?" Caroline asks, curiously.

"Just taking care of a few things at home. Nothing big," Charlie says, waving her hand a bit with nonchalance.

"Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?" Caroline asks, and Charlie slowly shakes her head.

"Nope, not that I know of," she says, and Caroline beams.

"Great. You can help with the Sexy Suds car wash! A lot of people are helping, and a bikini is mandatory," Caroline says, pointing at her.

"I take it this isn't optional," Charlie says with a grin, and Caroline shakes her head, grinning as well.

"Nope. Besides, you'll bring in a lot of service. A lot of guys love girls with tattoos," Caroline says, and winks at her. Charlie laughs a bit before Caroline begins questioning her. "Now, where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do," Caroline says as they approach Stefan and Elena.

"He… He left, Caroline," Charlie says, smiling sadly at her friend.

"When is he coming back?" Caroline asks, her cheerful expression faltering slightly.

"He's not coming back, Caroline. I'm sorry," Stefan says, walking forward. "Come on, Charlie, we have to get to class."

The rest of the school day goes by without a problem, and immediately after school, Charlie and Stefan go back to the boarding house.

"I can't stay long. I'm meeting Elena at the grill in a little bit," Stefan says, and Charlie nods, letting her bag slide from her shoulder to the floor next to the front door. "Can I borrow your car?"

"Sure," Charlie says, tossing her car keys to him. "You know, we cleaned your car for a reason."

"I'm still working on it," Stefan says, and Charlie shrugs slightly.

"I came to say good-bye, Damon," they hear Zach say from the basement, before he lets out a choked yell. Stefan and Charlie immediately bolt to the basement.

"Unlock it. Unlock the door, Zach," Damon growls weakly, and Stefan quickly pries Damon's hand off of Zach's neck, and once Zach is free, Charlie quickly pulls him away from the door, letting him lean on her while he catches his breath.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go," Stefan says as Charlie helps Zach up the stairs. She sits Zach down on the couch and blurs to the kitchen and gets him a glass of water. She hands it to him, and he nods to her, thankfully. She looks over and sees Stefan walking into the room, fully ready to help, but Charlie shakes her head.

"No, you go. You're already late," Charlie says.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asks, and Charlie gives him a look.

"Yes, go," she says with a laugh. Stefan hesitates a bit before nodding and exiting the house. "Are you alright?" she asks, looking at Zach.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have gone down there," Zach says after finishing his water, and Charlie nods in agreement. "I think I'm gonna go lie down for a while, Aunt Charlie," Zach says, and Charlie nods with a small grin. When he exits the room, Charlie goes to the kitchen and makes herself a cup of tea. She takes a drink of her hot tea, and begins putting the dishes from the dishwasher away when Stefan re-enters the house. He immediately finds her in the kitchen, and she frowns at him.

"Home already?" she asks, casually.

"Yeah, it didn't go so well. But we might have a problem. Do you remember when we came back during the 50's?" Stefan asks.

"Yeah… Yeah, it was like… '52 or '53… Back when Damon killed Joseph," Charlie says, crossing her arms, her eyes narrowed in thought. "Why?"

"A man who used to stay here was at the grill. He recognized me," Stefan says, and Charlie blinks.

"That… Could possibly be a problem. He's gotta be old though… Like really old. I wouldn't worry about it. We could pass that off as an old age thing if anyone asks," Charlie waves him off, and leans on the breakfast bar. "Now, on to more important matters… What happened with Elena?"

"She's getting tired of me being secretive," Stefan says, sitting down at the breakfast bar with a sigh.

"Maybe you should take a leaf out of my book… Pick up lying," Charlie says with a grin. "But you've never been any good at lying when you're put on the spot. That's a problem when you're a vampire."

"Could you give me some advice that's actually helpful?" Stefan asks, rolling his eyes at his sister.

"Well… All she wants is to get to know you, Stef. Just… Tell her some things about yourself. What movies you like, television shows, books, music… Teenage stuff like that. Tell her some stuff about Katherine. It wouldn't hurt to go on about your wonderful, beautiful, funny, and all around amazing twin sister either," Charlie says with a grin, and Stefan looks thoughtful. "Cook her dinner. Find out what her favorite meal is and cook for her."

"That's not half bad," Stefan says, rising from his seat, and moving to exit the house. "If this works I'll buy you that X-Box you want," he calls before exiting the house, and Charlie's eyes light up in excitement.

"It'll definitely work. I'm so getting an X-Box," Charlie says to herself, before finishing her tea with a grin. Later on that night, Charlie is watching a horror movie on the large television in the upstairs parlor, and she makes a slightly disgusted face at all of the gore that the movie shows. She looks over her shoulder as Stefan walks into the room with a smile on his face, and she grins at him. "So?" she asks. "Am I getting an X-Box."

"You," he starts, flopping down on the couch next to her, and he points a finger at her, "Are getting an X-Box."

"Hell yeah," she cheers, with a beaming smile. Stefan chuckles a bit and looks at the television. The smile is immediately wiped off of his face when he sees a woman getting her eye burned out with a blow torch.

"What… What the hell are you watching?" Stefan asks, his face scrunched up in disgust.

"Hostel. These people are all kidnapped by these shady people who work at a Hostel in Slovakia, and people pay to kill them. It's sick. But the gore is awesome," Charlie says, grinning at Stefan who gives her an odd look. "And they made two more!"

"You are so unbalanced," Stefan says, shaking his head at her, but she simply waves him off.

"This TV is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I have Evil Dead coming in the mail! I can't wait to watch that in high definition," she says excitedly.

"That movie was stupid. I resent you for making me see that when it was playing in the movie theaters," Stefan says, leaning back on the couch, deciding to watch the gory movie with Charlie.

"That movie was incredible!" she exclaims with a frown. "And they're remaking it!"

"God help us all. I'm not going to see it," Stefan declares.

"Oh, yes you are," Charlie says with a devious smile.

"We'll see," Stefan challenges.

"Yes, we will."

**-TSBOF-**

The next afternoon, Stefan and Charlie arrive at the school and they immediately walk to the table where Caroline and Elena sit to collect the money.

"Hi," Stefan says, and Elena smiles at him.

"Hey," she says.

"The event is called sexy suds, you know," Caroline says, before taking Charlie's arm and leading her away from the couple. "Alright. Strip," Caroline says, and Charlie tilts her head slightly.

"Oh, I love it when you're demanding," Charlie says teasingly, and Caroline laughs. Charlie grins before pulling her tank top over her head, and pushing her shorts off of her hips, leaving her only in a black bikini, sunglasses, and her black flip flops.

"Perfect," she says with a grin. "I have to take the money, but you can go help Bonnie with that car," Caroline says, taking Charlie's clothes from her, and pointing towards Bonnie. "I'll watch these."

"Thanks," Charlie laughs, and walks over to where Bonnie is washing a silver car. "Hey," Charlie says with a smile, and Bonnie turns to look at her.

"Hey," Bonnie says with a wide grin. "Wow. Lots of ink," Bonnie says, shaking her head. "When did you start getting tattoos?"

"Oh, about a year ago," Charlie shrugs, when in reality, she began getting her tattoos about ten years ago. "It's addicting."

"Looks like it," Bonnie says with a laugh. "It suits you though. And it looks like I'm not the only one that thinks so," Bonnie says, looking around at all of the boys who are looking at Charlie appreciatively. Charlie glances around as well, and she grins at the attention she's getting. "Oh. Tiki. This one's yours," Bonnie says to a girl when a man in a red car pulls up.

"Why do I always get the homely ones? Just to be clear, your car's a p.o.s. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a p.o.s," Tiki says, looking at the owner of the car, and Bonnie and Charlie both frown at the girl.

"You don't have to be rude," Bonnie reprimands angrily.

"Rude is uglying up the road with that junk," Tiki says, and Charlie watches as Bonnie looks at the girl angrily. Tiki begins filling up a bucket with water, and suddenly, she somehow loses control of the hose, and she's splashed with water. Charlie looks at Bonnie who watches the scene with a frown, but Charlie can't help but chuckle lightly as she begins to wash the car that Bonnie was working on. "Whoa! What the hell?" Tiki shouts, and Matt comes up behind her, laughing.

"Wet and wild, Tik," he says, laughing. Charlie looks up from her work and sees Stefan and Elena washing a car together, talking, and Charlie decides to eavesdrop a bit.

"You're getting soap in that," Elena says, talking about Stefan's ring.

"Oh, it's fine," Stefan says, shrugging it off.

"I noticed that Damon has one, too. Is there a story behind it?" Elena asks, curiously.

"Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance," Stefan says.

"Is it just a guy thing?" Elena asks, and Stefan looks at her questioningly. "I just saw that Charlie has a ring too, but it's nowhere near as big, or detailed."

"We were gonna have one made for her, but she thought these rings were too obnoxious. She settled for a simpler version," Stefan says, and Elena smiles and nods.

"Hmm. What's the stone?" Elena asks, looking at the ring.

"It's called lapis lazuli," Stefan says.

"Oh. You should really take it off. I could put it in my bag," Elena says, and Charlie watches Stefan's reaction.

"No, it's- it's fine, really. Thanks, though," Stefan says, smiling.

"Okay. I'm gonna get some towels," Elena says, and walks away.

"That was a close one," Charlie mutters in a sing song voice, and she grins at Stefan when he looks over at her. "Yours and Damon's rings really are obnoxious," she says lowly, and she smirks when Stefan rolls his eyes, and glances at his ring before washing the car he's working on. Minutes pass, gradually turning to a little over an hour, and Charlie washes a few more cars, meeting a few different people during her work, and she's unsurprised that it's mostly boys introducing themselves to her. She looks over and sees Bonnie leaning against a van, and she frowns when she sees Bonnie in a trance-like state. Her eyes widen when Bonnie uses her magic, and unknowingly lights water on fire. The fire slowly trails over to an SUV, and the vehicle catches on fire as well. Charlie quickly runs over to Bonnie and grabs her. "Bonnie?" she asks, and shakes her a bit when Bonnie doesn't break out of her trance. "Hey," Charlie says, "Bonnie, look at me!" Charlie says a bit louder.

Bonnie finally breaks out of her trance and sees what's going on before looking at Charlie. The fire immediately extinguishes when Bonnie's concentration breaks, and she looks at Charlie, horrified. "What just happened?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie gives her a knowing look. "Did I do this?"

"Yeah… Yeah, you did," Charlie says, rubbing Bonnie's upper arm soothingly.

"Nobody else saw, did they?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie shakes her head. "Please… Don't tell anyone," Bonnie pleads, and Charlie nods reassuringly. "I… I think I'm just gonna go home. Tell Caroline I left if you see her?"

"Of course," Charlie says, and Bonnie forces a smile at her before walking away.

"She okay?" Stefan asks, standing behind Charlie. Charlie turns around and faces her twin before nodding.

"Yeah, I think so," Charlie says, and Stefan nods before walking away and going to find Elena. Another half an hour passes and Charlie walks to the table where the money is taken, and she spots her clothes. She quickly pulls her tank top and shorts on before finding Stefan, ready to leave. She eventually finds him talking to Matt, and she walks over to them.

"Hey. I'm not saying this for you. I'm saying it for her. But she's big on trust. So whatever you're holding back from her, the more you try to hide it, the more she won't stop till she figures it out," Matt says, and Stefan nods. Charlie puts her hand on her brother's arm, and she grins at Matt.

"Hey, ready to go?" Charlie asks, and Stefan nods. Charlie gives Matt a small wave before the twins turn around and walk to Charlie's car. The ride home is spent in silence, and Charlie frowns when she sees the front door wide open. The twins both get out of the car and approach the house slowly. Charlie and Stefan both frown when they see a dead crow on the floor, and Charlie immediately blurs to the basement. Once in the basement, she walks at a human pace to Damon's cell, and her eyes widen significantly when she sees Zach's body lying on the ground. "Oh god… No," Charlie whispers, and drops beside Zach's body, quickly checking him over. "Zach?" she asks, shaking her head when she hears no heartbeat. "Zach! No! Stefan!" she shouts, as tears fill her eyes. "Stefan!" she cries, and she looks up when Stefan appears. He looks at Zach's body, horrified, and he looks at Charlie, seeing tears begin to run down her face. "He killed him, Stefan," Charlie cries, pulling Zach's body into her arms.

Stefan drops to his knees beside Charlie, and wraps his arms around her shoulders. She leans her head on Stefan's chest, letting her tears fall freely from her green eyes as she clutches Zach's body closer to her.

"We were supposed to protect him, Stefan. He wasn't supposed to die this way," Charlie cries as the guilt overwhelms her. "He trusted us, Stef…," Charlie trails off.

"Shh," Stefan whispers, squeezing her tighter, and kissing the top of her head, as anger begins to overcome him. The twins remain rooted to that spot for a bit longer before Charlie gently lets Zach's body rest back on the floor, and she stands, her red-rimmed eyes darkened with anger.

"I'm gonna shove vervain down his throat, and I'm not leaving the house until he's fully desiccated," Charlie growls, and goes to leave the room, but Stefan grabs her.

"No. Damon just ended the living Salvatore line, and he's just gonna keep killing people. We need to take care of him, Charlie," Stefan says, before walking away from Charlie, and going upstairs. Charlie lets this thought settle for a few moments, not knowing exactly what to do. She's completely torn between wanting her brother alive because she loves him, and dead for killing Zach, the last living member of their family. Charlie finally shakes her head before blurring upstairs, and she catches Stefan's arm as he heads for the door.

"No, Stefan, we don't have to kill him," Charlie says, shaking her head.

"Listen to yourself, Charlotte!" Stefan exclaims. "You were just downstairs, crying over Zach's _dead body_," Stefan says, stressing the last two words. "You said yourself that he wasn't supposed to die this way. But Damon killed him. He snapped his neck, Charlie. He deserves this," Stefan says, holding up the stake, and opening the door. Charlie goes to stop him again, but stops when she sees Elena standing on the other side of the door, looking at Stefan and Charlie with tear filled eyes.

"_What are you_?"

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **So… Yeah. This chapter was even shorter than the last one… But I hope you all liked it anyway!

**New outfits on Polyvore! Go check them out! Link on my profile!  
**

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**Reviewers and Replies**

**grapejuice101****: **Thank you so much! I'm glad you think so! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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**Passions2Write****: **I'll put in how Charlie was changed in later chapters. It'll probably be during how her brothers were killed. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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	6. Lost Girls

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**Last Hope – Paramore **

**-TSBOF-**

_**Then:**_

"_I'm gonna shove vervain down his throat, and I'm not leaving the house until he's fully desiccated," Charlie growls, and goes to leave the room, but Stefan grabs her. _

"_No. Damon just ended the living Salvatore line, and he's just gonna keep killing people. We need to take care of him, Charlie," Stefan says, before walking away from Charlie, and going upstairs. Charlie lets this thought settle for a few moments, not knowing exactly what to do. She's completely torn between wanting her brother alive because she loves him, and dead for killing Zach, the last living member of their family. Charlie finally shakes her head before blurring upstairs, and she catches Stefan's arm as he heads for the door. _

"_No, Stefan, we don't have to kill him," Charlie says, shaking her head._

"Listen to yourself, Charlotte!" Stefan exclaims. "You were just downstairs, crying over Zach's dead body," Stefan says, stressing the last two words. "You said yourself that he wasn't supposed to die this way. But Damon killed him. He snapped his neck, Charlie. He deserves this," Stefan says, holding up the stake, and opening the door. Charlie goes to stop him again, but stops when she sees Elena standing on the other side of the door, looking at Stefan and Charlie with tear filled eyes.

"_What are you?"_

_**Now:**_

"What are you?" Elena asks, and Stefan's face remains blank, but she can see the shock in his eyes. Her eyes flicker to Charlie who is standing slightly behind Stefan, looking at Elena sadly. "_What are you_?" she asks again, more aggressively when neither of them answers her question.

"You know," Stefan says quietly.

"No, I don't," Elena denies.

"Yes, you do, or you wouldn't be here," Stefan replies, knowingly.

"It's not possible. It can't be," Elena says, shaking her head. Charlie frowns and takes the stake from Stefan when he hands it to her, and he takes a few steps forward. With every step Stefan takes forward, Elena takes a step back. Charlie sets the stake down nearby and watches the scene in front of her.

"Everything you know... And every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?" Stefan says, and Charlie resists the urge to roll her eyes at Stefan's dramatics.

"What are you?" Elena asks, enunciating each word.

"I'm a vampire," Stefan says, and Elena's eyes widen slightly. "Both of us are," he says, gesturing to Charlie. Elena looks at Charlie for a moment as the realization washes over her.

"I shouldn't have come," Elena says, and turns to leave.

"No. Please," Stefan says, shaking his head, and moving to follow her.

"Stefan," Charlie says in a warning tone. She watches with a sigh as Elena runs away, going to her vehicle, and Stefan blurs after her, suddenly appearing in front of her.

"No. No. How did you do that?" Elena asks, panicked.

"Please don't be afraid of me," Stefan pleads, remaining firmly in front of her, and moving with her as she attempts to go around him.

"Let me go," Elena cries, and Stefan grabs her arms, making Charlie look at him incredulously.

"No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand," Stefan says, desperate for her to listen to him.

"Stefan, let her go," Charlie says, taking a few steps out the door.

"Let me go!" Elena shouts, finally breaking out of Stefan's hold, and running to her car. She quickly gets in and starts the car.

"Elena, please," Stefan pleads, as Elena drives away. Stefan sighs heavily before running a hand through his hair. He turns around and walks quickly back into the house, clearly stressed. Charlie follows him inside and shuts the door behind her.

"Stefan, just give her a little time," Charlie advises him, but he ignores her. Charlie sighs, and blurs up to her bedroom before quickly changing out of her clothes and into a new outfit, preparing to take care of Zach's body. She looks up suddenly when she hears the front door slam shut, and she walks back downstairs. "Stefan?" she calls, and listens closely, hoping to hear him in the house. She sighs when she hears no sign of anyone but herself in the house, and she shakes her head, knowing exactly where Stefan went. She races back to her bedroom and pulls on a pair of shoes and a jacket before blurring out of the house, heading directly to Elena's. Once there, she walks around to the side of the house and finds an open window.

"Because you knowing this is dangerous for so many reasons. You can hate me, but I need you to trust me," she hears Stefan plead.

"Just go. Just go, please. Go. If you mean me no harm, then you'll go," Elena says strongly, but Charlie can hear the terror in her voice, so she decides to intervene. She jumps up to the open window and climbs inside to what she can only guess is Elena's room. Upon arriving, she sees Stefan with a terrified Elena pressed against the door.

"Stefan," Charlie speaks gently. "Look at her. She's terrified," she reasons. This seems to get Stefan moving, and Charlie looks at him approvingly when Stefan takes a step away from Elena.

"I never wanted this," Stefan says, before turning away, and brushing past Charlie, exiting the house through the window. Charlie looks at Elena for a few moments who is still pressed against the door, her breathing labored. Elena watches Charlie, and Charlie frowns at the fear in her new friend's eyes.

"I know you're scared, and that you probably don't ever want to see Stefan or myself again, but I want you to do one thing for me, and that's to keep that necklace on at all times," Charlie says, and Elena frowns at her. "It'll keep Damon and other vampires out of your head," she says, and turns to climb out the window. "Stefan probably already told you this, but neither of us would ever hurt you or anyone you care about. I promise you that," Charlie says, looking into Elena's eyes honestly. "Shut and lock this window behind me," she says, tapping the glass and jumping from the window to the ground. Elena rushes to the window, taking Charlie's advice and she shuts and locks the window, before looking outside briefly, satisfied when she sees nothing.

Charlie walks around the house, and sees Stefan walking away, with is cell phone pressed to his ear. She jogs at a human pace to catch up to him, and listens in to his phone conversation.

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy," she hears Damon say, and she shakes her head in disappointment.

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?" Stefan asks, coming to a stop when he sees Charlie, and she stops beside him.

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?" Damon asks, and Charlie frowns.

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him," Stefan says.

"... Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?" Damon asks, casually, and Charlie reaches up and takes the phone from Stefan before holding it to her own ear.

"Where are you?" Charlie asks, angrily.

"Hey, baby sis. You wouldn't happen to know where your big brother's ring is, would you?" Damon asks, in a false kind tone.

"Even if I did I wouldn't tell you after what you did to Zach," Charlie growls.

"Well, you better find out Charlie, because if I don't get my ring, my next stop is Elena's," Damon says, and Stefan takes his phone back from Charlie.

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen," Stefan says, glaring.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart," Damon says angrily.

"Yeah? Is that gonna be before or after you get your ring back?" Stefan asks, and there's a moment of silence on the other line.

"Just get it," Damon says, and the line goes dead. Stefan hangs up his phone and looks at Charlie for a few moments. Charlie sighs a bit before turning around, and walking back towards Elena's house, with Stefan following behind her. The twins make their way to the far end of the front porch, and Stefan leans against one of the support beams, while Charlie sits next to him on the railing.

"You know, I highly doubt that Damon would actually hurt Elena. I mean, she looks exactly like Katherine," Charlie says, quietly.

"That won't stop him from hurting her aunt and brother," Stefan says, and Charlie nods a bit.

"You know, she could come around to the truth," Charlie says after a few moments of silence.

"She's terrified of me," Stefan says, not looking at Charlie.

"She's taking it better than I did," Charlie mutters, and Stefan looks at her for a few moments before looking at the ground. "Stefan… If she takes it any worse…," Charlie begins.

"We're not compelling her," Stefan says, firmly.

"Stef, we might have to," Charlie says, looking at him.

"No," Stefan says.

"Stefan, I'm being sensible here," Charlie says. "She could tell someone, and this town is full of people who know about vampires, and they'd all come after us. I'm sorry, but if compelling the memories of tonight away keeps us alive, then I'm gonna do it."

"She won't tell anyone," Stefan says, surely, and Charlie regards him for a few moments.

"I hope you're right, Stefan," Charlie says.

**-TSBOF-**

The next morning as soon as the sun rises, the Charlie returns home, while Stefan remains close by Elena's. Charlie doesn't understand why he does this, but she simply shrugs it off and blurs to the boarding house. When she walks inside, she immediately goes to her bedroom. She takes a quick shower, and changes into a new outfit before going downstairs. She sluggishly makes her way to the kitchen and starts a pot of coffee before going to the living room. She freezes in her tracks when she looks at the couch and sees Vicki Donovan lying on the couch. Charlie frowns when she sees a heavily bleeding wound on her neck, and she blurs to the kitchen, and grabs a towel. Charlie rushes back out to the living room, and turns Vicki's head slightly before placing the towel on Vicki's neck.

"Mmm, what's going on?" Vicki groans weakly.

"Here, hold this towel on your neck to try to stop the bleeding," Charlie says to her gently, and Vicki pries her eyes open slightly. She looks at Charlie before reaching up and holding the towel to her neck.

"Where are you, Stefan? I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and I don't do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring. Damn it," she hears Damon say as he walks into the living room. Damon puts his phone back into his pocket and looks at Charlie who is crouched by the couch, next to Vicki. "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I live here," Charlie says, glaring at Damon.

"Aw, don't get blood on the couch!" Damon groans, looking at Vicki.

"It's not like she can help it!" Charlie admonishes, looking at him incredulously. "You're the one that bit her!" she exclaims, as Damon walks over, looking down at Vicki.

"I got her good, didn't I?" Damon says, and looks thoughtful for a moment. "Well, you're not gonna be any fun today. I'm so gonna regret this," he mutters, and Charlie watches as he bites his wrist and presses it to Vicki's mouth. Vicki struggles a bit before finally submitting, and drinking the blood from Damon's wrist. "Drink up. Drink it up. Don't drip. There you go. Good girl. That's it."

Charlie watches as Damon pulls his wrist away, and Vicki slips into unconsciousness. Charlie walks over to the front door, and finds the stake that she placed there the previous night, and she blurs over to Damon and shoves the stake in his stomach. Damon lets out a shout of pain and she allows him so grip her shoulder to keep himself standing and he looks into her eyes angrily before she rips the stake out.

"That was for Zach," she says, and steps away from Damon. She casually makes her way to the basement, keeping the stake with her. She hides the stake in the back of the basement, and she slowly approaches Zach's body. She sighs and slowly lifts his stiff body into her arms, and she carries him out of the basement.

"Going to bury him?" Damon asks, pouring himself a glass of scotch.

"Yeah, how about you come help me. Oh, wait," she says, and dramatically gasps. "You can't," she says mockingly to him.

"You're hilarious," Damon sneers as Charlie makes her way to the back door.

"I know," she calls over her shoulder, and exits the house. She walks a bit into the woods near the back of the boarding house, and she lies Zach down, before blurring to the shed. She takes out a shovel, and walks back to Zach's body before beginning to dig a grave for him. The entire time she digs, she continuously thinks how Zach doesn't deserve this. She thinks how unfair it is that Zach completely missed out on having a normal life, how he missed out on having a family because of herself and her brothers always popping in. How Zach was too afraid to have a family, mostly out of fear that Damon would show up and kill them. And how unfair it is that Zach can't have the funeral he deserves because he was killed by Damon.

When the grave is dug, she tosses the shovel aside, and gently lays Zach's body inside. A few minutes later, his body is completely buried, and Charlie slowly trudges back to the house after putting the shovel back in the shed. When she goes back into the house, she cringes at the volume of the music echoing through the house, and she frowns when she sees Vicki and Damon dancing together. She raises her eyebrows slightly, and blinks before making her way to the basement. She takes a few blood bags out of the large freezer and brings them upstairs. She rips one open and pours it in a glass, and sticks the glass in the microwave to warm it up.

"You are so damaged," Damon says to Vicki, and Charlie shakes her head at his rudeness before taking the glass out of the microwave, and taking a large gulp of it, immediately feeling herself getting stronger.

"Yep," Vicki agrees.

"I mean, you don't have one hint of self-esteem," Damon says.

"Nope, none," Vicki says, tearfully.

"So what's that?" Vicki asks as Charlie finishes her glass of blood.

"Death," Damon says, and Charlie's eyes widen, and she rushes to the living room, just in time to see Damon snap Vicki's neck.

"Damon, what the hell?!" Charlie shouts, looking at him, horrified.

"Relax, she'll wake up," Damon says, and Charlie storms over to him, pushing him away from Vicki's body.

"I know that, Damon. That's the problem!" Charlie says, crouching beside Vicki's body. Damon simply rolls his eyes at his little sister, and walks over to the window. He sticks his hand into the direct sunlight, and pulls it back when his hand starts to burn. He does this a few more times, and stops when Charlie carries Vicki's body to the couch. "You're such a dick, Damon," Charlie mutters as she walks past him.

"I know that," Damon says, as if it's obvious, watching his little sister make her way up the stairs. He smirks slightly when he hears the door to her bedroom slam shut, and he goes back to mindlessly burning his hand in the sunlight out of boredom.

Upstairs, Charlie flops down on her bed, not bothering to take her boots off, and she digs her cell phone out of her pocket. She responds to a few text messages that she received from Caroline and Bonnie before dropping the device on the pillow next to her head. She drapes an arm over her eyes, the lack of sleep from the previous night finally catching up with her, and she slowly drifts into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, Charlie jerks awake when she receives a text message. She groans and grabs her phone, and sees that the text message is from Stefan. She sighs when she reads the message telling her to come to Elena's because Vicki is transitioning, and she slowly rolls out of bed, and exits the house before blurring to Elena's house. She walks inside, and hears Stefan and Elena talking.

"She has to feed on human blood," Stefan says.

"And what if she doesn't?" Elena asks, dreading the answer.

"She'll die," Charlie says, approaching them, and Elena turns around quickly, looking at Charlie with a frown. "She might only have a few hours left."

"She's upstairs with him right now," Elena says, gesturing to the stairs, talking about her brother.

"It's ok. She doesn't know what's happening to her yet," Stefan assures her.

"So when is she gonna know?" Elena asks.

"Right now, she doesn't remember anything. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back, and then she'll know she has to make the choice," Stefan says.

"The same choice you made?" Elena asks rudely, and Stefan looks away. Charlie frowns, mildly offended.

"Sometimes being a vampire is better than being dead," Charlie says.

"Charlie," Stefan says in a warning tone that makes Charlie bite her tongue before she says anything else. All of them look over when the door opens and Matt runs out of the open door.

"Vick. Vicki!" he shouts, and Charlie, Stefan, Elena, and Jeremy all run out after him.

"She was fine, and then she just- she just freaked out," Jeremy says, confused and concerned.

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything," Matt says, and leaves.

"I can track her," Stefan says.

"Go," Elena tells him, and Stefan leaves.

"Come on, Charlie," Stefan says, and Charlie sighs before heading after him. The twins wait until their a safe distance away from the Gilbert house, before blurring away, keeping their senses open for Vicki's scent. They come to a stop in the woods, and Charlie looks around slightly.

"I'll go check near the cemetery," she says, and Stefan nods. Charlie blurs in that direction while Stefan decides to check in the opposite direction. As the two of them search, the sun slowly sets, and the woods are completely dark. Charlie slows to a human pace as she approaches the cemetery, and she stops completely when she hears the sound of a girl crying at the other end of the cemetery. She walks at a human speed in her direction, and she eventually finds Vicki sitting on the stone steps of a mausoleum. "Vicki?" she asks gently, and Vicki looks up at her. Charlie frowns sympathetically when she sees the tears streaking down the girl's face.

"I'm starting to remember things, what he is, what he said. I remember you, from the rooftop, it's all coming back," Vicki says, and Charlie sits down next to her.

"I know… Believe me, I know. And I'm so, so, sorry that Damon did this to you. If I had known what he was gonna do, I would have gotten you out of there," Charlie says, feeling a bit of guilt, letting Damon kill this girl.

"He said that I need to feed. What will happen if I don't?" Vicki asks, and Charlie hesitates.

"You'll… You'll die, Vicki," Charlie says as gently as she can, and this makes Vicki sob harder. Charlie hesitantly reaches out and puts a hand on the distraught girl's back, and rubs soothing circles on it.

"I don't want this," Vicki says, looking at Charlie.

"I know you don't," she says. "But you're gonna be okay, alright. I'm gonna do everything I can to help you through this."

"Is it better? Is it better? Will I be better?" Vicki asks, looking at Charlie helplessly.

"Being a vampire?" she asks, and Vicki nods. Charlie shrugs lightly, before nodding. "It has its ups and downs. It isn't easy in the beginning, but it gets easier over time."

"I wanna go home. Will you take me home?" Vicki asks as she cries, and Charlie nods slightly before standing.

"Yeah, okay," Charlie says, before a gunshot rings out, and Charlie gasps when she feels a piercing pain in her chest. She reaches up to her chest, and looks down, and she coughs slightly when she sees a heavily bleeding bullet wound just beside where her heart is. She catches a glimpse of Vicki who is looking at her with a horror stricken face, and Charlie falls to the ground. Charlie eventually sees a man walking to stand over her, and he kneels down next to her, placing a hand on her chest over her wound, and he presses on it, making Charlie let out a shout of pain. She feels a strong sense of fear when the man raises a stake over her chest.

"No!" Vicki screams, and Charlie shuts her eyes, waiting for the stake to pierce her heart, and she opens her eyes when she hears the man let out a shout of pain. She sighs with relief when Damon stands over her, and he tosses the unconscious man to the ground next to her.

"Charlie?" she hears Stefan ask, and he blurs next to her, kneeling next to her body. A loud scream of pain tears from her throat when Damon digs his fingers into her chest and carefully removes the bullet. Stefan carefully lifts Charlie into a sitting position and allows her to lean against him while her chest heals. She reaches up and rubs the spot on her chest that the bullet pierced when she feels the wound heal completely, and she sighs.

"It's wood. They know," Damon says, holding up the blood covered wooden bullet. He watches as Charlie rises to her feet with Stefan's assistance, and his eyes zero in on Stefan. "My ring?" he asks, and Stefan digs into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out Damon's daylight ring. Damon takes it from him, and easily slips it onto his middle finger. Charlie looks around for Vicki and her eyes widen when she sees her feeding from the man's unconscious body.

"No! No! Vicki!" Stefan exclaims, and Vicki looks up at them, the area around her mouth covered in blood.

"I'm sorry," she says, frowning at the twins, and she runs away, into the woods.

"Oops," Damon says, carelessly, and Charlie glowers at him. She and Stefan watch as Damon picks up a pocket watch, and turns it carefully in his hand, looking it over.

"What's that?" Charlie asks, stepping closer to Damon.

"You don't recognize it?" he asks, and she frowns at him. He tosses it to her, and she catches it easily before inspecting the outside. She raises an eyebrow, and opens the watch and instead of a clock, she finds a type of compass that she immediately recognizes.

"Well, I guess that's how he found me," Charlie says, nodding to the unconscious man on the ground that she now recognizes as Logan Fell. "Good thing we have this now," she says, shutting the compass and handing it back to Damon who takes it and slips it into his jacket pocket.

"I'll meet you back at the house. I have to go tell Elena what happened," Stefan says, and Charlie nods while Damon rolls his eyes. The two of them watch as Stefan blurs away, heading to Elena's home.

"Come on, kiddo, lets get you some blood," Damon says, slinging an arm around Charlie's shoulders, and leading her out of the cemetery. Once back at the boarding house, Charlie goes down to the basement and grabs a blood bag before going back upstairs. She pours the blood into a glass and quickly heats it up before taking a large drink out of it. "Feeling better?" Damon asks, walking into the kitchen. Charlie glances at him before looking away. "Still mad at me?" he asks, and she ignores him. "Ah, the silent treatment. I see you haven't outgrown that. Well, you know that I can make you talk to me," he says, smugly before walking slowly around the breakfast bar. Charlie carefully watches him out of the corner of her eye, and slowly inches away from him as he approaches her.

Charlie remembers exactly how Damon can get her to talk to him when she would give him the silent treatment when they were still human. It's a simple solution. To make Charlie talk when she would give him the silent treatment, all Damon would have to do is tickle her. She remembers a specific time when she and Stefan had recently turned seventeen, and Damon had informed the twins that he was living for the war. Charlie had been so distraught over this news that she refused to talk to Damon for an entire week until he would tell her that he wasn't leaving. She remembers him tickling her for a whole of three straight minutes before she finally gave in.

Charlie quickly downs the rest of the blood in her glass before setting it down on the counter, all the while keeping her eyes glued to her eldest brother. She narrows her eyes slightly before blurring out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and into her room. She slams her door shut, and quickly sits down in front of it when Damon goes to open the door.

"Okay, fine. I give up," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes. She frowns when she hears Damon walk away from the door, and she waits a few minutes before she moves away from the door, and walks to her bed, taking her phone out of her pocket and seeing that she has a text from Stefan telling her that they need to search for Vicki. She's not completely surprised when her door opens, and she lets out a cry of protest when Damon begins tickling her sides mercilessly. She keeps her mouth clamped shut tight to keep her laughter reigned in, as she attempts to fight Damon off.

"Okay, okay, stop!" she shouts, and Damon backs off, smirking at her triumphantly. "Jerk," she mutters, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You still talked to me," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes.

"Get out, I need to change my shirt," Charlie says, and Damon grimaces before exiting her bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Charlie quickly changes into a plain white t-shirt, and shrugs on one of her leather jackets. She exits her bedroom, shoving her cell phone into her jacket pocket, and she goes to Stefan's bedroom, and grabs one of his jackets. She walks downstairs and finds Damon nursing a glass of scotch in the living room. "Come on, we're going to find Vicki."

"_We _are?" Damon asks, putting emphasis on the 'we'.

"Yes, _we _are," Charlie says. "This entire mess is your fault. You're going to help bring her back."

"You've gotten pretty bossy in your old age," Damon says, smirking, before dodging the couch pillow that Charlie throws at him. The oldest and the youngest Salvatore siblings both exit the boarding house, Damon more reluctantly than Charlie, in search for the newborn vampire running around the town.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **And there's chapter 6! I hope you all liked it. Just a reminder, the poll on my profile is still open, and it's only gonna be open for a little longer. Probably just until the next chapter. So go vote if you haven't already! Go, go, go!

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	7. Haunted

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**I Can Barely Say – The Fray (Charlie and Jeremy scene)**

**-TSBOF-**

"All right, later, man," Tyler Lockwood calls to his friends as he walks away from the school to his car in the parking lot.

"See you, bro!" his friend calls back, and Tyler walks to his car. He pauses for a few moments and turns around when he thinks that he hears something, but when he sees nothing but himself and his car in the parking lot, he shakes it off slightly, and walks to his car. He digs the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the driver's side door, and gets into the car.

"Hi, Ty," Vicki says, softly, suddenly appearing in the passenger seat of his car.

"Whoa, Vicki? Everyone's looking for you!" Tyler exclaims, looking at her.

"I know," Vicki mutters.

"What's wrong, Vick?" Tyler asks, frowning at her.

"I'm so cold," she whimpers.

"You're on drugs!? Everyone thinks you're off on a bender," Tyler says.

"I wish," Vicki says softly.

"What happened in those woods, Vicki? Those kids that were killed. What did you see?" Tyler asks, prying for answers.

"I'm so scared," Vicki cries, tears streaking down her face.

"Come here. It's okay. I'll take you home," Tyler says, pulling Vicki into a hug.

"I can't control it," she cries, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Control what?" Tyler asks, frowning.

"I am so hungry, Ty. And it won't go away," Vicki says, turning her head to face his neck. She feels her new fangs begin to extend as she smells the blood rushing through his veins underneath his flesh.

"What are you on? What drugs did you take?" Tyler asks, exasperatedly.

"I want it. I am so hungry, Ty," Vicki says, lowly.

"Okay look, I'll get you something to eat. Just sit back. Look, let's just get you home, okay?" Tyler says, pushing Vicki away slightly, and his eyes widen when he sees her completely shifted face. "Whoa! Vicki! What is wrong with you?!" Tyler shouts, pushing open the car door that he leans against, and he falls out of the car, onto the pavement. He does his best to fight Vicki off of him as she launches herself out of the car and on top of him, desperate to rip into the flesh of his neck to drink his sweet blood. Tyler takes a much needed breath when Vicki is suddenly ripped off of him.

"Aah! Let go of me!" she shouts, and Tyler sees that Stefan has her gripped around the waist, holding her tightly so she can't get away.

"It's about time. We've been looking everywhere for you," Charlie says, suddenly showing up, pointing a finger at Vicki. Charlie looks over at Damon when he appears in front of Tyler.

"What's going on here, you guys? What's wrong with her?" Tyler asks, looking at Stefan and Charlie.

"You don't talk," Damon says, hardly paying attention to him.

"Screw you, dude," Tyler scoffs at him.

"'Dude'? Really? 'Dude'?" Damon asks, giving Tyler a look.

"Damon, don't," Stefan commands.

"Oh, come on, who's gonna miss this idiot?" Damon asks, and Charlie and Stefan both tense significantly when Tyler punches Damon in the face.

"Oh, don't you hurt him," Vicki growls at Damon, and Damon reaches out and grabs Tyler around the neck.

"Damon, stop it!" Charlie exclaims. "He's the mayor's son," she says, and Damon rolls his eyes before looking into Tyler's eyes.

"Forget what you saw here tonight. None of us were here," Damon compels him, and tosses him over the car. The four vampires quickly blur away, back to the boarding house, with Stefan still carrying Vicki.

The next morning, Stefan, Damon, Vicki, and Charlie all sit in the library, Damon sitting at one of the desks, Charlie and Vicki both sitting on the couch, and Stefan sitting across from the girls. Since they brought Vicki back to their home, she had been gravitating towards Charlie since she was the one to talk to her in the cemetery the previous night, and since she's the only other girl.

"Can I call my brother to let him know I'm okay?" Vicki asks, looking at Charlie. Charlie shares a looks with Stefan before shrugging.

"Sure, I think that's a good idea," Charlie says with a grin, and Vicki gives her a small smile in return before pulling her phone out of the pocket of her jeans. Stefan and Charlie wait patiently as Vicki has a quick conversation with Matt, telling him that she's okay. When she hangs up she sighs.

"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here. Why can't I just go home?" Vicki asks.

"Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's not something you wanna do alone," Stefan says gently.

"There's nothing about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a word. Someone's covering it up," Damon says, and Charlie frowns at him.

"What were you gonna do? Cut the story out of the paper and hang it up on the refrigerator?" she asks, and Damon smirks at her.

"I was thinking about it," he says, putting the newspaper down, and playing with the compass.

"What's that?" Vicki asks, looking at the compass in his hand.

"This is a very special, very old compass. What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?" Damon asks, looking at Charlie and Stefan.

"Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?" Stefan says, and Charlie grins at Damon.

"We should all be worried," Damon says in a dramatically low voice.

"Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Vicki asks, and watches as Stefan stands up and walks to the desk by Damon. He picks up a small ceramic cup, and he hands it to Vicki.

"Here," he says as she takes the cup.

"What is it?" Vicki asks, looking inside the cup.

"It's what you're craving," Stefan answers, and Charlie rolls her eyes slightly with a small smirk.

"Heh. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?" Damon asks, matching Charlie's smirk.

"What is it?" Vicki asks, again.

"Yeah, what is it? Is it a skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?" Damon asks, and Charlie snorts faintly before leaning her head back on the couch.

"Go on. Give it a try," Stefan says, ignoring Damon, and Vicki takes a sip of the blood.

"She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff," Damon says.

"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki asks, looking at Damon.

"Yeah," Damon agrees.

"Because it's wrong to prey on innocent people, Vicki," Stefan reasons.

"You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory after wards. It's so easy," Damon says, and Charlie looks at him incredulously.

"If it's _so easy _then why don't you do it?" Charlie asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I do… Sometimes," he says, and she shakes her head at him.

"There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity," Stefan says, bringing Vicki's attention away from his bickering siblings.

"Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane way out of our eye line. I say snatch, eat, erase," Damon says, and Charlie scoffs at him.

"Shut up, Damon," she mutters.

"You shut up," Damon says, frowning at his sister.

"You shut up!" she exclaims.

"Enough!" Stefan orders, and Damon and Charlie narrow their eyes at him, before looking back at each other.

'Ha,' Damon mouths to her and Charlie gives him the finger, making Vicki giggle.

"Hey, look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are," Stefan says to Vicki, and Damon groans before standing.

"Okay, count Deepak. I am outta here," Damon says, pushing Charlie's head as he walks behind her. Charlie growls slightly and launches a pillow at him, smirking smugly when it hits him on the back of his head. "Brat," he calls over his shoulder.

"Dick," she calls back, and even Stefan can't fight the small grin that comes to his face as he watches his siblings playfully bicker.

"Can I have some more?" Vicki asks, draining the rest of her cup of blood. Stefan nods a bit before all three of the vampires hear a knock on the door. "Why can I hear them talking?" Vicki asks, frowning.

"All of your senses are heightened now. Makes eavesdropping so much easier," Charlie says with a grin, and Vicki grins back. They hear that it's Elena, and they hear her ask for Stefan.

"Stefan? Stefan?" Elena calls when she enters the house. Stefan quickly gets up and leaves the room.

"Yes," Stefan says.

"Where is Vicki?" Elena asks.

"She's upstairs," Stefan replies.

"What happens now? Because my brother is out there searching for her with the rest of the town. What do I tell him?" Elena asks, and Vicki frowns before rising from her seat and exiting the room.

"I'm working with her, but it's gonna take time. She's a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, all that's gonna play a part in how she responds to this," Stefan says.

"So, she's a vampire with issues? What am I supposed to do? Because I'm lying to everyone that I care about. What's gonna happen to her?" Elena asks.

"I'm gonna keep her here with me until I know that she's safe," Stefan says.

"How long is that?" Vicki asks, appearing on the stairs.

"We can talk about that later," Stefan says to her, looking at Charlie as she appears behind Vicki.

"Hey, Vicki, How are you?" Elena asks, and Vicki looks at her with disbelief.

"How am I? You're kidding, right?" Vicki asks, and there's a few moments of silence before Charlie breaks it.

"Hey, Vicki how about you change out of those clothes. You can borrow some of mine, and you can shower if you want. You have a little blood in your hair," Charlie says, and Vicki turns around to look at her before grabbing a few locks of her hair and looking at it, indeed seeing blood.

"Yeah, sure," she says, and Charlie leads her to her bedroom.

"Just go ahead and help yourself to whatever you want," Charlie says, opening up her closet, and Vicki looks inside before picking out a shirt and a pair of jeans. "I'm just a little taller than you, but they should still work," she says, gesturing to the jeans, and Vicki nods. "My bathroom is through there. Use whatever you want," Charlie says with a grin.

"Thanks, Charlie," Vicki says, with a thankful smile. Charlie nods, before exiting her bedroom, leaving Vicki to shower. Charlie stands outside her bedroom, looking around, trying to think of something do to when a thought comes to mind.

"Stefan!" she shouts. "When am I gonna get my X-Box!?"

**-TSBOF-**

"Coffee is our friend. It's the caffeine. It circulates through our veins, and it warms our body so we're not so cold to the touch," Stefan says to Vicki when she comes downstairs after her shower.

"Well, what if I wanna drink human blood?" Vicki asks.

"You're gonna have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis one day at time," Stefan reasons as Elena watches them talk from beside Stefan.

"Oh god! Don't start with that whole 12 steps thing. School counselor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me," Vicki says.

"It used to not work for me either," Charlie says with a grin as she brings a tall glass into the dining room, and she sets it in front of Vicki. "Try that. I guarantee you that it tastes much better," Charlie says, and Vicki takes a small drink of it before blinking a few times and gulping down the rest of it quickly.

"What kind of blood was that?" Vicki asks, looking at Charlie, and Charlie pulls out the empty blood bag from behind her back.

"This is how you stay strong with human blood, but you don't have to hurt anybody," she says, tossing the empty bag on the table.

"So have you ever tasted human blood?" Vicki asks Stefan after a few moments. Charlie blinks a few times and looks at Stefan.

"Not in a long time," he answers.

"How long?" Vicki asks, curiously.

"Years and years. I'm not proud of my past behavior," Stefan says, avoiding Charlie's eyes.

"Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover. This daylight thing is a bitch. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead," Vicki rambles, and Stefan points over his shoulder to the bathroom on the ground floor.

"I'm going to, uh...I'm gonna get her some more. All right. I'll be quick," Stefan says, exiting the room, and Charlie frowns at his back before walking after him.

"Hey, you okay?" Charlie asks, and Stefan nods mutely.

"Charlie…," Stefan starts and Charlie holds up a hand.

"If this has anything to do with the past we don't need to talk about it. It's called the past for a reason," Charlie says, and Stefan looks at her for a few moments. "Unless it's the recent past like how you promised me an X-Box and I _still _don't have it."

"Are you ever gonna let that go?" Stefan asks, rolling his eyes, letting an amused grin slip onto his face.

"Not until I get my X-Box and Call of Duty," Charlie says, seriously, and Stefan chuckles a bit. "Then you have to play Call of Duty with me."

"Fine," he says, walking out of the kitchen to get Vicki more blood. Charlie grins a bit before going back to the dining room, and her eyes widen slightly when she sees Vicki holding Elena by her neck against the wall. Charlie blurs over and quickly pulls Vicki away.

"Okay, relax," Charlie says, and Vicki wrenches herself out of Charlie's grip and walks away. Charlie looks at Elena who holds her neck, frowning at Vicki's retreating back. "You okay?" she asks, looking at Elena concerned, and Elena nods a bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, and Stefan walks into the room.

"What happened?" he asks, frowning at the two of them.

"Vicki kind of freaked out," Charlie says, before looking at Elena. "Maybe you should get some fresh air," Charlie says, and Elena nods before turning to walk out of the house, and Charlie and Stefan follow her.

"She threatened me," Elena says when Stefan shuts the front door behind him.

"She's on edge. Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues...," Stefan trails off.

"How long before it settles? Hours? Days? Weeks?" Elena asks.

"It depends. It could be a while; it may not take long at all. It all depends on Vicki and how hard she's willing to work," Charlie says.

"Well, how long before you learned to control it?" Elena asks, looking at the twins.

"A while," Stefan says.

"We had each other, but neither of us knew what we were doing, or what was going on with us," Charlie adds.

"The thing is it's hard to resist certain people especially when you're new, it's difficult to separate your feelings. Love, lust, anger, desire...it can all blur into one urge, hunger," Stefan says.

"What does that mean?" Elena asks, frowning.

"It means that Jeremy can't see her, not now. She might not be able to resist him, and she could hurt him," Stefan explains.

"Or worse," Elena says, shaking her head.

"We're not gonna let anybody get hurt," Stefan says, reassuringly.

"I need to get going," Elena says quickly.

"Elena…," Stefan tries.

"Please Stefan. There's only so much I can take," Elena says before hastily walking off of the porch and getting into her car before driving away. Stefan sighs and runs a hand through his hair, and Charlie looks at him with a frown.

"You know what might get your mind off of all of this?" Charlie asks with a grin, and Stefan looks at her through narrowed eyes.

"If you say an X-Box, I'm not getting you one," Stefan says, and the grin slips off of Charlie's face.

"I wasn't gonna say that," Charlie says, the pitch of her tone rising, a clear indication that she's lying, which makes Stefan smirk. Charlie narrows her eyes at him before pulling her phone out of her pocket when it vibrates with a text message.

'Come to the Halloween party with me and Caroline tonight? It'll be fun ;),' the text from Bonnie reads, and Charlie smirks a bit.

"Think you can handle Vicki by yourself for a little while?" Charlie asks, and Stefan nods a bit. Charlie grins and texts Bonnie back, telling her that she'll go. "This is so exciting, I love Halloween."

"What's your costume this year?" Stefan asks as they walk into the house.

"I'm going with the whole Alice in Wonderland theme again," Charlie says.

"What other main characters do you have left to be? You've been Alice, the Red Queen, the White Queen, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and you were even the White Rabbit one year. What's next? The Jabberwocky?" Stefan asks, and Charlie looks thoughtful for a moment, before nodding slightly.

"Thanks for giving me an idea for next year!" Charlie chirps with a large grin, and Stefan rolls his eyes. "But no, and I can't believe you're totally missing my absolute favorite character of all time!"

"The Cheshire Cat?" Stefan asks with a raised eyebrow, and Charlie smiles widely, before blurring up to her bedroom, grabbing her costume out of her closet, and zipping back downstairs, stopping in front of Stefan, holding up her costume with a grin. She watches as Stefan eyes the costume before chuckling slightly and shaking his head.

"Well?" she asks, impatiently.

"That's so cute!" Vicki exclaims, entering the living room where Stefan and Charlie stand. Charlie whirls around and faces Vicki before grinning widely.

"You think so?" Charlie asks, and Vicki nods with a smile before picking up the long tail of Charlie's costume.

"I love it. It's adorable!" Vicki says, and Charlie matches Vicki's smile.

"Oh, I just love having another girl around the house," Charlie says, looking at Stefan, who rolls his eyes at her before walking away. "Living with two brothers is great and all, but I wish there were girls around more often."

"Tell me about it. I love Matt, and he's a great brother, but he's so protective sometimes, and it really gets annoying," Vicki responds, and Charlie nods.

"Believe me, I know. The whole getting a boyfriend thing is really hard with older brothers," Charlie says.

"Matt's not really like that, thank God," Vicki says.

"Lucky you," Charlie mutters, checking her phone when she gets another text, this time from Caroline, telling her to come over to her house to get ready. When Charlie looks back up she sees that Vicki's left the room, and she shrugs before going up to her bedroom, and grabbing her shoes and a few other things before exiting the house, and going to Caroline's house.

**-TSBOF-**

Later that night, Caroline, Bonnie, and Charlie all arrive at the Halloween carnival at the school, and they all stand around and talk to each other. Most of the time spent talking; Caroline has the tail of Charlie's costume in her hands, petting the fur of it, much to Bonnie's and Charlie's amusement. After a few minutes, Charlie excuses herself to get a drink, and she walks away, and to the table with an array of different drinks on it.

"The Cheshire Cat, huh?" she hears a voice ask from behind her, and Charlie turns around, and she raises an eyebrow slightly when she sees Tyler Lockwood looking her over.

"Good guess," Charlie says, grinning a bit.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen the Cheshire Cat look so good," Tyler says, smirking at her, and Charlie tilts her head slightly.

"Why Mr. Lockwood, that sounds a lot like flirting. Don't you have a girlfriend?" Charlie asks, and Tyler shakes his head.

"Broke up," he says, shrugging slightly.

"That's too bad," Charlie says, looking Tyler over. "King Leonidas? An interesting choice."

"_You've _seen 300?" Tyler asks, skeptically, and Charlie frowns at him.

"I'm a big fan. I've seen that movie about thirty times," Charlie says.

"My kind of woman," Tyler says with a smile, and Charlie smirks. Charlie opens her mouth to say more, but she stops short when she sees Vicki from the corner of her eye. She looks back at Tyler with a small grin.

"I'll… Be right back," she says, and walks away before Tyler can respond. Her eyes zero in on Vicki and she rushes up to her. "Vicki, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Ugh, please don't start," Vicki groans.

"You need to go back to the boarding house. Come on, I'm taking you back," Charlie says, and grabs Vicki's arm. Vicki growls slightly before using her enhanced strength to push Charlie away. Charlie's back slams against the wall, and Vicki quickly disappears into the crowd.

"You okay?" Stefan asks, suddenly appearing beside her.

"Fine. We have to find her," Charlie says, grabbing Stefan's arm and pulling him through the crowd, looking for Vicki. When the twins finally catch up with Vicki, Stefan grabs her and pulls her into a classroom, with Charlie following behind them.

"What, you're following me now?" Vicki asks, looking at them, annoyed.

"You shouldn't be here. You aren't ready to be around all of these people yet, Vicki," Charlie says.

"Let me out of here," Vicki says, turning to the door, but Charlie blurs around her, and stands in front of the door.

"Charlie's right. You shouldn't be here Vicki. Crowds like this, it make it even harder for you to keep yourself under control," Stefan says, sensibly.

"I'm fine," Vicki says, defiantly.

"Really?" Stefan asks, sarcastically.

"Mhmm," Vicki says, nodding.

"No headache? Your stomach's not screaming at you? You're not feeling lightheaded or anxious or cranky like if someone looks at you the wrong way you could just rip their head off? Do you wanna know what that's called? It's called hunger and it's only gonna get worse and worse every minute that you pretend like it's not controlling you," Stefan says.

"You need to come back to the house with us, Vicki. We can help you control it," Charlie says. "Every vampire goes through this, and I know that staying away from everybody is hard, but you have to do it so you don't hurt or kill anyone."

"Whatever," Vicki mutters after a few moments, and Charlie looks at Stefan who takes Vicki's arm, and Charlie leads them out of the room. They weave through the crowd, prepared to leave, only stopping when they see Elena.

"Thank God," Elena says, upon seeing them.

"What's the matter?" Stefan asks, concerned.

"I lost track of Jeremy. I was worried," Elena says, and Matt walks up to them.

"What's going on?" Matt asks, frowning at Vicki.

"Hey. Uh, everything's fine," Stefan says, reassuringly.

"I told you to quit bothering me," Vicki says suddenly, looking at Stefan, making everybody frown.

"The hell?" Charlie asks, shaking her head.

"No. Vicki, don't do this," Elena begs, shaking her head at Vicki.

"Matt, he won't leave me alone," Vicki says, walking behind her brother, and Matt glares at Stefan, causing Charlie to tense.

"You need to back off, man," Matt says, taking a step closer to Stefan, and Charlie glares at Matt.

"Matt, it's...its okay," Elena says, trying to diffuse the situation.

"No, it's not okay. What the hell is your problem?" Matt asks, a bit louder, and Charlie takes a step towards him, but Stefan's arm shoots out, and he pushes her behind him, giving her a warning look.

"Stefan. She's gone," Elena says, and Charlie looks behind Matt, seeing that Vicki has indeed disappeared. Charlie rolls her eyes and groans. Elena runs off, looking for Vicki, and Charlie and Stefan attempt to leave, but Matt reaches out and grabs Stefan's arm. Stefan whirls around and grabs two handfuls of Matt's shirt and slams him against the wall.

"I'm trying to help her," Stefan hisses at Matt, and Charlie grabs his arm before pulling him away, to look for Vicki. The twins each walk through the noisy school, keeping their ears open for Vicki, and they finally hear her outside with Elena's brother Jeremy. The two of them have to run at a human's pace through the school, picking up speed when they hear Jeremy shouting and Elena's screams. When they reach the door to go outside, Stefan blurs forward and grabs Vicki before slamming her against one of the busses parked outside.

"You two go inside," Charlie says, looking at Elena, and they all turn to look at the bus when Vicki disappears.

"Go. Get inside. Go!" Stefan shouts, and Elena grabs Jeremy, and starts pushing him towards the school. Charlie and Stefan both begin searching for Vicki, and they're alerted by her presence when Elena lets out a loud pained scream. Before Charlie can even blink, Stefan picks up a sharp piece of wood, and stabs Vicki through the back with it, the wood going straight through her heart. Charlie looks at Stefan wide eyed, knowing that there was a different way they could have gone about this.

"Vicki…," Jeremy cries from his place on the ground. Charlie frowns, looking at Jeremy with pity as he cries for Vicki, repeatedly shouting her name while looking at her dead body.

"Get him out of here," Elena says, looking at both Stefan and Charlie. Charlie looks at Stefan before taking her cell phone out of her shoe, and dialing Damon's number, following a few steps behind Jeremy and Stefan.

"And what can I help you with, little sister?" Damon asks as he answers his phone.

"I need your help, Damon," Charlie says, seriously and quietly.

"What happened?" Damon asks, suddenly serious as well,

"Stefan… Stefan killed Vicki… Stefan and I are taking Elena's brother home, so I need you to take care of her body," Charlie tells him.

"Where?" Damon asks with a sigh.

"Back of the school," Charlie says, and hangs up. Charlie leads Stefan and Jeremy to her car, and she gives Stefan her keys. He unlocks the door, and pushes up the driver's seat to let Jeremy in the back. Once everybody is in the car, Stefan drives to the Gilbert residence. The ride is spent in complete silence, save for the sounds of Jeremy's silent cries from the backseat. When they arrive, Stefan lets Jeremy out of the car, and Jeremy immediately enters his house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Charlie sighs, and removes the headpiece of her costume before playing with it to keep herself busy. She takes a seat on the front steps of the porch, and Stefan sits next to her.

"You didn't have to kill her," Charlie says, softly.

"I know," Stefan says after a few moments of silence. "I wasn't thinking. When I saw her attacking Elena…," Stefan trails off, looking at Charlie guiltily. Charlie nods slightly in understanding, before resting her head on her twin's shoulder.

"Worst Halloween ever," she mutters, and the twins both stand when Elena arrives at the house.

"Where is he?" she asks the twins immediately.

"He's inside," Charlie says, softly, and Elena walks past them, going into her house.

"Do you understand what happened tonight?" they hear Elena ask, as they eavesdrop on their conversation.

"No. I don't understand. I mean, I know what I saw, but...I don't understand," Jeremy says.

"She was going to kill me," Elena says, gently.

"Now she's dead. Vicki's dead," Jeremy cries, and the twins both sit on some of the furniture on the front porch.

"I'm so sorry, Jer," Elena says, sympathetically.

"Make it stop. It hurts," Jeremy cries, and Charlie drops her head into her hands, the guilt steadily becoming overwhelming.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh. It's okay. it's okay," Elena says.

"Why does everybody have to die on me?" Jeremy asks.

"Oh, my god. come here," Elena says, sounding on the verge of tears herself. The twins listen to the heartbreaking sounds of Jeremy's sobs, and Charlie slowly lifts her head, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Please tell me that I'm not the only one who feels like complete crap right now," Charlie mutters, and Stefan glances at her before shaking his head. After a few minutes, they hear Elena coming back down the stairs, and she walks outside.

"Are you okay?" Elena asks, looking at the twins.

"I, uh...I wanted to help her. But instead, uh...How's he doing?" Stefan asks, and Charlie decides to remain silent on the matter.

"He's a mess. I don't want him going through this again. He's just a kid," Elena says, her eyes becoming tearful.

"Elena, what can I do? I...What can I do to help? I'll do anything," Stefan says, his eyes pleading.

"Can you make him forget?" Elena asks, and Charlie's eyes shoot to her hairline.

"Elena…," Stefan trails off, knowing that this isn't something he can do.

"Stefan, please. I don't know how he'll ever get past this. I just want him to forget everything that happened," Elena begs.

"If I did it, there's no guarantee that it would work...Because of who I am. Because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right," Stefan says, and Elena looks behind him at Charlie.

"Charlie… Can you do it?" Elena asks, and Charlie looks at her for a moment before standing.

"Yeah… Yeah, I can," Charlie says. "What do you want him to know?"

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town and she's not coming back. That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's gonna miss her, but he knows it's for the best," Elena says, and Charlie nods before looking at Stefan.

"Here, hold my ears," she says, handing him her headpiece, and taking a few steps forward before looking behind her, and pulling off the detachable tail, "and my tail," she says pushing it into his hands and going inside the house. She slowly makes her way up the stairs, and to Jeremy's bedroom. She knocks on the door lightly before pushing it open. She sees Jeremy sitting on his bed, covered with a blanket, his knees pulled to his chest.

"Who are you?" Jeremy asks breathily, and Charlie gives him a half smile.

"My name's Charlie. I'm Stefan's sister," Charlie says, and walks into his bedroom. She pushes the door shut a bit, leaving the door cracked, and she walks to his bed, and sits down on the edge of it.

"What do you want?" Jeremy asks, not rudely, but sadly. Charlie frowns slightly, eyeing the tears still rolling down his face.

"I just wanna talk," Charlie says, playing with her daylight ring. She looks down at her hands for a moment before looking into Jeremy's eyes. "I want you to forget what happened with Vicki Donovan tonight. Know that Vicki's left town, and she isn't coming back. You aren't going to look for her, and you aren't going to worry about her. You'll miss Vicki, but you know that her leaving is for the best," Charlie compels him, and listens as he repeats the last few words of her last sentence. "Also, I want you to try to get good grades in school. Do your homework, study, pay attention in class. I want you to stop using drugs, make some new friends, be a little nicer to your aunt and your sister, and have fun. Live your life Jeremy. I want you to stop holding yourself back. You have such a good heart, and you're such a good person. Show it," she compels him with a smile. "Now," she continues, scooting closer to him, and placing a hand on his cheek gently, "why don't you go downstairs, have a snack, get a drink of water, come back upstairs and go to sleep. I promise you, Jeremy, you're going to feel much better tomorrow," Charlie finishes compelling him, taking her hand off of his cheek, and standing from his bed. "Have a good night, Jeremy."

"Yeah… You too, Charlie," Jeremy says, rising from his bed as well. She opens the door to his bedroom, and walks downstairs, with him trailing behind her. She pats him on the shoulder with a small grin before walking out of the house, as he walks to the kitchen, following Charlie's compulsion.

When Charlie walks out of the house, Elena and Stefan both look at her, and Charlie nods at Elena with a small smile. Elena nods back and walks around her, into the house.

"We should go," Charlie says, looking at Stefan, and Stefan nods, before the two of them walk off of the Gilbert's porch, and to Charlie's car before driving back to the boarding house.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **Not my best chapter by any means, but I hope you all at least sort of liked it! The poll will be closed tomorrow! So if you haven't voted, now's your last chance!

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**Reviewers and Replies: **

**RHatch89****: **I'll be announcing who I'm going to pair Charlie with in the next chapter! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter just as much as the last one!

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	8. 162 Candles

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**Shelter – Birdy (Ending scene with Stefan and Charlie)**

**-TSBOF-**

Early the next morning, Charlie lies in her bed in a deep sleep. The door to her bedroom slowly creaks open, and a dark figure stands in the doorway. The person slowly walks into Charlie's bedroom, and stands over her sleeping figure, looking down at her with a sly smirk, before hunching down, and grips the side of her mattress, swiftly flipping it over, sending Charlie to the floor. Charlie lets out a shriek of surprise, and the mystery person zips out of her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them. Charlie frowns and looks around the room before growling.

"Stefan, I'm gonna kill you!" Charlie roars, detangling herself from her sheets and blankets, before stomping barefoot out of her room, flinging her bedroom door open with so much force that it knocks against the wall behind it. She barely notices as the top hinge breaks off of the wall, sending the piece of metal and the screws clinging on the floor. She storms down the hallway and kicks Stefan's door open. "Who the hell-," she begins loudly, but stops mid rant when she sees that her twin brother isn't in his room. She frowns in disappointment before turning on her heel and stomping back down the hallway, walking down the stairs, making as much noise as she can. She immediately finds Stefan standing in the hallway leading to the front door, and she power walks to him, and shoves him with impressive force, sending him stumbling forward. "Who the hell do you think you are? You know I don't like to be rudely woken up!"

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asks, glaring at Charlie.

"I'm talking about your little mattress flipping stunt just now! Don't play dumb, you know what you did!" Charlie exclaims, and glares at Stefan when he looks confused.

"You really think I'd risk my belongings like that?" Stefan asks, knowing the consequences of rudely awakening Charlie, not to mention this early in the morning. He did it once when they were human, and the next morning he'd found holes cut into all of his socks. Stefan watches as Charlie looks thoughtful for a few moments, before she scowls.

"Damon!" she thunders before turning to storm away.

"Damon isn't here," Stefan says, looking around. Charlie frowns before she and Stefan are both grabbed by the arms and are slammed against the wall by a very familiar blonde, who bares her fangs at them. "Lexi?" Stefan asks, frowning.

"Hi," Lexi says, cheerfully, letting her face shift back to normal. Charlie lets out an uncharacteristic shriek of excitement before throwing her arms around the blonde. Lexi laughs, hugging Charlie back.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asks, happily as Lexi pulls away.

"How can you even ask that?" Lexi asks, before hugging Stefan.

"We missed you," Stefan says, smiling.

"Happy birthday," Lexi says, grabbing both Stefan and Charlie's hands. Stefan and Charlie both give Lexi an identical smile which makes her shake her head and let go of their hands. "It's creepy when you guys do that."

"Do what?" Stefan asks, the smile fading from his face.

"Smile the exact same way at the exact same time. It's like when you both say the same thing at the same time… Or finish each other's sentences," Lexi says, grinning at them, and Charlie grins back.

"It's just our super special awesome twin bond," Charlie says, wrapping her arms around Stefan's waist, and Stefan laughs a bit before throwing an arm around Charlie's shoulders. "You know, the offer to be our honorary triplet still stands."

"Hah, no thanks," Lexi scoffs, and Charlie shrugs before releasing Stefan.

"So uh… Just to be clear, you're the one who flipped me out of bed, right?" Charlie asks, narrowing her eyes at Lexi.

"Yep," Lexi says, grinning smugly, and Charlie frowns.

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Charlie asks, dramatically, and Lexi laughs.

"Because it's fun to torture you. It was funny to watch the aftermath. 'Stefan, I'm gonna kill you!' It was hard not to laugh," Lexi says, smiling, and Stefan chuckles from behind Charlie.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you. I was gonna break your stuff," Charlie says, whirling around to look at Stefan. The grin slowly slides off of Stefan's face, and he narrows his eyes at her. The twins both look over when Lexi reaches into her pocket and pulls out a set of keys, and she hands them to Charlie.

"There. Those are the keys to your present that will be here next week," Lexi says, and Charlie raises an eyebrow. "You'll see, just be patient," Lexi says with a grin, seeing the look on Charlie's face.

"I have to share my present with _him_," Charlie sneers, playfully.

"It's **my **present, Charlie," Stefan says, mock glaring at Charlie.

"She gave the keys to me," Charlie says with a grin, and Stefan shrugs before walking away.

"I was born first," Stefan calls over his shoulder, and the grin slowly slides off of Charlie's face, morphing into a scowl.

"Five minutes, Stefan! It doesn't count!" she shouts to his retreating back, and pouts when Lexi smirks at her.

"Good to see that hasn't changed," Lexi says, clearly remembering each time that the twins had this similar debate during their time spent with her over the years. Charlie grins at Lexi and nods.

"Charlotte Anne Salvatore!" Stefan yells from upstairs, and Charlie cringes a bit, knowing that Stefan must have seen the state of his bedroom door.

"I can fix it!" she shouts back, confidently, before blurring upstairs. Lexi laughs lightly at the antics of her friends, following after Charlie with a grin.

**-TSBOF-**

Later that morning, Charlie returns to the boarding house after picking up her present for Stefan, and she quickly blurs to her bedroom, and tucks it underneath her bed. She grins slightly and practically bounces to Stefan's bedroom where she finds him and Lexi sitting on the bed.

"Yo," Charlie says, when they both look at her.

"Yo," Lexi says back, giving her a cool nod which makes Charlie laugh while Stefan rolls his eyes at both of them.

"Where've you been?" Stefan asks, curiously, and Charlie looks blankly at him.

"Why? You writing a book?" she asks, mildly defensive, and Stefan grins. Charlie frowns while narrowing her eyes at him.

"Where is it?" Stefan asks.

"Where's what?" Charlie asks quickly, shifting her body to block his still broken bedroom door.

"My present. I know you got it. Where is it?" Stefan asks. Charlie glares at him, but merely shrugs. "Charlie."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Charlie asks, glowering at him.

"Yeah," Stefan sighs, and he looks at Lexi, who is watching the scene, amused. "I got some things I gotta take care of."

"It's not exactly like I can go anywhere. And you two and Damon are the only ones with these nifty little daylight rings. I have a mood ring from '75! Trade you?" Lexi asks, flashing her mood ring.

"Oh! I have mine, too! ….Somewhere," Charlie says, scratching her head lightly.

"Doesn't work that way and you know it," Stefan says, and Charlie raises her eyebrows.

"That's gonna be my next mission," Charlie decides, before reaching into her back pocket. "Oh! Look, I got a new phone!" she says, merrily, flashing her new iPhone to them. She eyes Stefan's face apprehensively when his face turns from amusement to disappointment.

"I got you an iPhone for your birthday," Stefan says, and Charlie frowns.

"No you didn't," she says quietly, and Stefan sighs before walking over to her, heading for the door.

"I know," he says, and she glares at him and shoves him.

"Jerk," she growls, "you made me feel bad," she whines, and he chuckles. "You know, you're being awfully chipper today. It's very uncharacteristic. It must be all the Elena love along with the birthday and Lexi excitement. You're acting like me, and I don't know if I like it."

"Well, I do!" Lexi cheers, happily. "This Elena girl must really be something special."

"She's awesome," Charlie smiles, and flops down on Stefan's bed next to Lexi. "I actually like her."

"Oh, twin approval," Lexi says, looking significantly at Stefan. "Now I have to meet her."

"Mmm, I don't know. She knows about the whole vampire thing, and she's kind of freaked out by us," Charlie says, setting her phone down on the bed, and looking up at Lexi.

"Pfft, who'd be afraid of you? You're like Bambi," Lexi says, laughing, ignoring Charlie's outraged cry.

"I'm scary! Lots of people are scared of me," she says with a scowl.

"You smile too much to be scary," Lexi points out, and Charlie glowers at her.

"There are lots of people out there who smile a lot and are still scary," Charlie grumbles.

"Name one," Lexi challenges.

"The Joker!" Charlie exclaims, and Lexi falls silent for a few moments before nodding in acceptance.

"Fair enough. But you're not scary," Lexi says, and Charlie grumbles dejectedly under her breath. "So, what are we doing for your birthday? It's not everyday my favorite twins turn a hundred and sixty-two years old," Lexi says, and Stefan groans.

"Really?" he asks.

"Oh yeah," Lexi says, nodding with a grin.

"Let's have a party! We can have a party here! Can we, Stefan, please?" Charlie asks, quickly sitting up, drawing out the 'e' in 'please' for a few moments.

"Yeah, Stefan, please?" Lexi asks, saying 'please' in the same fashion as Charlie. Stefan rolls his eyes.

"I'll be back in a little bit," Stefan says, ignoring their pleading looks, and he walks out of his bedroom.

"Ugh, he's so lame sometimes," Charlie says, loudly.

"I heard that!" Stefan calls before walking out the front door.

"So where'd you hide his present?" Lexi asks, with a grin, and Charlie smiles widely.

"Under my bed," she says.

"Oh, show me!" Lexi says, and pulls Charlie off of Stefan's bed, and the two girls walk into Charlie's bedroom. Charlie reaches under her bed and pulls out the large framed poster, before showing it to Lexi with a proud grin. "Ah, he's gonna love it!"

"He better. This took me forever to get my sneaky little hands on. Check it; it's autographed by the main cast!" Charlie says, happily, and Lexi nods while smiling widely. "So what'd he get me?" Charlie asks, grinning.

"No clue," Lexi says, honestly, shrugging, and Charlie frowns in disappointment. "So, do you know where he went?" Lexi asks, hopping onto Charlie's bed, and laying down. "Damn, I love your bed. You're gonna have to share tonight."

"I think he's going to the police station to answer some questions," Charlie says, sitting cross legged in the middle of her bed. "About Vicki Donovan… A girl that Damon turned the other day. She attacked Elena and her brother last night and Stefan killed her."

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again," Lexi starts, and Charlie looks at her curiously. "Damon's a dick."

"You've said that more than once," Charlie laughs, loudly before reaching over to her nightstand, and pulling her newest package of Oreos out of the drawer. Lexi snorts quietly at Charlie's choice of snack foods.

"I see you still have an existing open relationship with those things," Lexi says, taking one of the cookies when Charlie offers the package to her.

"We really love each other," Charlie nods, seriously. Lexi laughs lightly at her before standing.

"Show me this new TV that Stefan was talking about earlier," Lexi says, and Charlie's eyes light up.

"He loves it, doesn't he?" Charlie asks.

"I don't know. He was just telling me the story about how you got it, and how you insisted on getting the biggest TV in the store," Lexi says with a laugh, and Charlie grins before she walks out of the room. She leads Lexi to the room with the TV, and Lexi's eyes widen slightly. "Damn."

"Now… How would you like to watch this," Charlie starts, holding up her copy of Evil Dead, "in super HD."

"You're like my soul mate," Lexi breathes, and the two girls share a laugh before Charlie puts the movie in, and they both take a seat on the couch, immediately becoming engrossed in the movie when it starts.

**-TSBOF-**

After the movie ends Lexi retreats to Charlie's bedroom for a nap, and Charlie spends more time watching television mindlessly, glancing at the door when Damon walks into the room, holding something behind his back.

"Happy birthday, kiddo. How old are you now? 200?" Damon asks, and Charlie gives him a dry look before turning her attention back to the television that's playing the show American Chopper.

"If I'm 200, you're 207," Charlie says, eating one of her Oreos. She frowns slightly when she hears him place something on the back of the couch and she turns her head slightly, quickly jumping off the couch when she sees a skinny tail. She blinks a few times when she sees a small orange kitten standing on the back of the couch, looking at her with wide blue eyes. "What is _that_?"

"I'm sensing that, that's a rhetorical question," Damon says with a smirk. "I found her outside. I thought you'd like her."

Charlie regards him for a few moments, before looking at the kitten. She clears her throat and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear before reaching out and petting the kitten's head softly. She smiles widely when the kitten rubs her head against Charlie's hand. Charlie quickly scoops up the kitten with a grin.

"She's so cute," Charlie coos, looking down at the kitten.

"Still mad at me now?" Damon asks, flopping down on the couch, and changing the channel on the television. He looks at Charlie for an answer and frowns when he sees her still doting on the small kitten, which seems to be thoroughly enjoying the attention. "Hey," he calls, and scowls when he's once again, ignored. He picks up a pillow from the couch and tosses it at her, and he smirks when it hits her on the back.

"What?" she hisses, glowering at him.

"This is already a bad idea. I'm sending the cat back," Damon says, standing and moving towards her, and he raises his eyebrows when she growls at him, and clutches the kitten closer to her chest.

"No, she's mine," Charlie says, defensively.

"What are you naming her then?" Damon asks, raising his hands in surrender.

"Marbles," Charlie answers immediately, and Damon rolls his eyes.

"Where's that hot friend of yours?" Damon asks when Charlie goes back to petting the kitten.

"Hmm, in my room," Charlie says in a happy voice and she moves around Damon and sits on the couch. "But leave her alone, she's asleep," she says, but Damon had already exited the room. Minutes later she hears Damon and Lexi talking, and Charlie smirks when she hears Lexi choking Damon.

"Don't ruin my time with Stefan and Charlie, because I'll hurt you. And _you know I can do it_," Lexi growls.

"Yeah," Damon chokes, and Charlie hears somebody exit her bedroom, and she can only assume that it's Lexi. She looks up and smiles at Lexi when she appears in the doorway.

"Like Damon's present to me?" she asks, holding up the orange kitten.

"How cute," Lexi grins, and sits down on the couch next to Charlie.

"I told him to leave you alone, if that helps," Charlie says, referring to Damon and Lexi nods. "I didn't exactly expect him to listen but… You know him."

"Unfortunately," Lexi mutters, making Charlie snort in amusement. "So… Any guys catch your interest yet?"

"I'm surprised it took you so long to ask," Charlie mutters before putting the kitten down on the floor. "Not especially. I mean, there's plenty of cute guys around, but none's really stood out."

"Well, there's no way you aren't getting laid on your birthday. I'm taking you and Stefan out tonight, and _you _are finding a guy to bring back here, and I'm not allowing you out of your bedroom until you have sex," Lexi promises, and Charlie rolls her eyes, amused.

"Stefan would kick both of our asses," Charlie says with a grin.

"Oh please, we can take him," Lexi says, nodding surely, and Charlie nods thoughtfully.

"Fine. You keep Stefan away though," Charlie says, pointing at Lexi who grins triumphantly. About an hour later, Lexi and Charlie are standing in the kitchen while Charlie warms up a glass of blood. They hear Damon walk up from the basement, and he passes by the kitchen, carrying a large cardboard box in his hands. "What's that?" Charlie asks, frowning.

"That's for me to know, and for you-," Damon starts.

"Don't even finish that," Charlie grumbles, and Damon smirks before exiting the house. Charlie looks down when she feels Marbles pawing at her leg, and she lifts the kitten up before setting her on the breakfast bar.

"She's probably hungry," Lexi points out, and Charlie mentally face palms.

"Right," she says, and goes to the refrigerator. "There's some chicken in here, you think that's okay?"

"Yeah, warm it up first," Lexi instructs.

"Okie dokie," Charlie says, and takes out a cutting board and a knife before expertly dicing the chicken into small pieces. She takes a small bowl out of one of the cabinets, and she turns her head slightly when she hears the front door open and close. She frowns slightly when she catches Stefan's scent, and she hears him hurry past the kitchen. Her small frown quickly turns to a wide grin when she realizes that he must have gotten her present, and she puts some of the chicken pieces into the bowl before sticking it into the microwave and warming it up slightly. She grins at Stefan when he enters the kitchen, and her grin turns to a wide smile when he looks at the kitten with a raised eyebrow. "This is Marbles," she says, cheerily, and her smile quickly vanishes. Charlie turns around and picks up the knife before pointing it at Stefan. "You eat her, and this," she starts, holding up the knife, "is embedded in your ass."

The twins look over at Lexi when a loud snort emits from her nose.

"God, I should really come around more often," Lexi says gleefully, and Charlie looks back at Stefan seriously, still pointing the knife at him.

"Would you put that down? I won't hurt the cat," Stefan says honestly, and Charlie nods slowly and puts the knife on the counter behind her. She watches as the kitten looks at Stefan and meows, demanding his attention. She grins as Stefan pets Marbles, and the kitten rubs her head against Stefan's hand. Charlie turns back around and takes the bowl of chicken out of the microwave and sets it on the breakfast bar. She watches as Marbles approaches the bowl, and sniffs the chicken curiously before she sits down and begins to eat it. Charlie smiles and takes a different bowl out of the cabinet and fills it with cold water, and she sets it next to the bowl of chicken.

"So…. Did you get my present?" Charlie asks, clasping her hands behind her back, and bouncing on the balls of her feet slightly. Stefan rolls his eyes and nods. "What is it?" Charlie asks, excitedly.

"Go up to your room and see," Stefan says, smiling slightly, and Charlie makes to go to her room before she pauses.

"Wait here," she says, and blurs to her bedroom, purposely ignoring the box on her bed, and she grabs Stefan's present and takes it to his room quickly and she places it carefully by the wall next to the door that she still hadn't fixed. "Okay, you can come upstairs!" she shouts, and practically skips to her bedroom with excitement. She waits beside her bedroom door and she gives Stefan a beaming smile when he passes her. He merely grins at her before rolling his eyes and she enters her bedroom when he enters his. Her eyes widen, and light up with absolute glee when she sees the brand new X-Box on her bed, along with a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Red Dead Redemption. "Oh, Stefan you shouldn't have!" she shouts dramatically, quickly picking up her new X-Box and games. She immediately begins lugging them to the parlor with the TV in it but she stops when Stefan cuts her off.

"How in the hell did you get that?" Stefan asks, happily, and Charlie smiles at him.

"Well… I'd tell you, but a magician never reveals their secrets," she says, in an over dramatic mysterious voice.

"That's right, Stefan. It's a rule," Lexi says, raising an eyebrow at Charlie when she sees her with the large game system box with two game cases on top of it.

"Look, Stefan finally got me my X-Box!" she cries, excitedly, and walks past the two smiling vampires and enters the parlor and quickly begins setting up the system to the large television. "Lexi, will you play Call of Duty with me?"

"Sure," Lexi shrugs, taking a seat on the couch, and Stefan sits on the leather chair next to the couch.

"Stefan you promised me you'd play, too," Charlie reminds him, and he rolls his eyes.

"I remember," he says, watching her set the X-Box up. Charlie looks up when Lexi exits the room, and she looks over at Stefan.

"So, you like your present right?" Charlie asks, continuing her work with the game system.

"I love it, Charlie. Thank you," Stefan says, truthfully, and Charlie beams happily at him.

"You're welcome," she says, finally finishing her work and she turns the X-Box on before connecting the controllers. Lexi reenters the room with a suitcase, and she sits back down on the couch, setting the suitcase down on the table in front of it. Charlie weaves the cable of one of the controllers around the table and she sits down next to Lexi, barely listening as the two of them talk about Elena. As she's setting everything up for her X-Box, she glances at Lexi when she catches the smell of blood, and sees the older vampire drinking from a blood bag.

"Want some?" Lexi offers to Stefan, knowing that Charlie had already fed earlier.

"No. Thank you," Stefan says, frowning slightly.

"Relax I didn't kill anyone for it. This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier," Lexi says, and Charlie returns her attention to the television. "Oh don't judge, ok? Listen I tried the animal diet; lasted three weeks."

"I'm jealous. I lasted one and a half," Charlie pipes up.

"It doesn't matter. Cause if I started again ... I just don't know if...," Stefan trails off, and Charlie looks at her twin sympathetically.

"You could stop," Lexi finishes.

"Lexi, I'd never judge you," Stefan says. "And you know I'd never judge you Charlie," Stefan says as Charlie opens her mouth to ask the inevitable cheeky question, and Charlie smirks at him in turn.

"I'm just jealous of your restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism," Lexi says, resting her head on Charlie's narrow shoulder. "Speaking of which, what are we doing tonight?"

"Funny you should ask," Damon says, entering the room. Charlie looks at him and frowns when she sees Marbles in one of his hands, but she relaxes when she sees Damon petting the kitten gently, and she returns her attention to the television.

"Well I wasn't asking _you_," Lexi says, sitting up straight.

"There's a party at the grill. You'll love it. Banquettes, Tacky wait staff, All of Stefan and Charlie's friends," Damon lists, and Charlie's eyes light up with excitement, and she smiles at Stefan.

"Yeah, I don't want a birthday party," Stefan says, giving Charlie a significant look, which she pouts at.

"Yeah? What about you, kiddo?" Damon asks, walking to stand behind the couch. He places the kitten down on the arm of the couch beside Charlie before placing his hands on his baby sister's shoulders. She merely grunts in reply, and Damon rolls his eyes.

"Well, it's not _for you_. It's a _party,_ party. No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline's throwing it," Damon says, and Charlie whips her head around, giving Damon a dark look.

"Leave. Caroline. Alone, Damon," Charlie says, dangerously, and Damon raises his hands in surrender.

"We're friends it's cool. It's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk. We need to blend," Damon says, and looks at the blood bag in Lexi's hand. "I prefer mine at 98.6," he says, before exiting the room.

"Let's go," Lexi says, looking at Stefan and Charlie, and Charlie grins at her before looking at Stefan. "Please?" Lexi asks, drawing out the 'e' in 'please', much like earlier.

"Please, Stefan? A party sounds fun!" Charlie says, giving Stefan her puppy dog eyes. Stefan looks between his twin and best friend before relenting.

"Fine. Just for a little while," Stefan says, and Charlie claps her hands together before high-fiving Lexi.

**-TSBOF-**

A few hours later, Charlie steps out of her shower and wraps a towel around her body before walking into her bedroom. She opens up her closet and looks sharply at her bedroom door when Lexi bursts into the room, fully dressed in a top and a skirt.

"And why didn't you say anything about Elena looking exactly like Katherine?" Lexi asks, shutting Charlie's bedroom door. Lexi raises an eyebrow when Charlie merely gapes at her.

"I…. Well… Stefan… I'm sorry," Charlie stammers out, giving Lexi an innocent smile at the end. Lexi lets out a silent laugh through her nose and she walks to Charlie's closet. She looks through the numerous tops before moving to the other side of the closet where Charlie's dresses hang.

"Oh, cute," Lexi says, pulling an ivory short dress out of the closet. "Wear this tonight," she says, handing it to Charlie.

"A dress?" Charlie whines.

"Yes. A dress. Put it on," Lexi says, and Charlie rolls her eyes before walking to her dresser and pulling out a pair of panties and putting them on underneath her towel. She turns her back to Lexi and drops her towel before pulling her dress on. When she turns around, she sees Lexi with a pair of white heels in her hands. Charlie sighs and takes them from her to slip them on her feet.

"You're so bossy. I don't even know why I put up with you," Charlie grumbles.

"Because I'm your best friend, and you love me," Lexi responds, smugly, making Charlie merely grunt in reply. Charlie quickly applies a bit of eyeliner and mascara before shrugging on a leather jacket and following Lexi out of her bedroom.

"Stefan let's go," Charlie calls in a sing-song voice. The two girls look over when Stefan exits his room.

"I'll meet you two there, I have to take care of something first," he says, and Charlie raises an eyebrow before deciding against questioning it. She simply nods with a small grin.

"You better show up," Lexi says threateningly, and Stefan chuckles.

"I will," he says, and Lexi and Charlie turn around and make their way downstairs, and out of the house. The girls decide to take Charlie's car, and Charlie lets Lexi drive after a few seconds of Lexi begging. When the two girls walk inside the Grill, they immediately see Damon walking up to them, and Lexi rolls her eyes in annoyance.

"Where's our brother?" Damon asks, looking at Charlie.

"He said he'd meet us here," Lexi answers, shortly.

"Buy you a-," Damon starts, but is cut off by Lexi grabbing Charlie's arm and pulling her away. Charlie smirks a bit while looking at Lexi.

"What?" Lexi asks, with a small smile.

"Just the way you act towards him. It's so funny sometimes," Charlie chuckles, and Lexi laughs before linking her arm through one of Charlie's. "There's Stef," Charlie says, pointing out Stefan who had just walked into the restaurant. Stefan spots the two girls and immediately heads over to them, only stopping to exchange a few quick words with Matt. When he arrives next to Lexi and Charlie, Lexi immediately drags Stefan out onto the dance floor. Charlie opts to sit this activity out, and is content to sit at the bar and watch Stefan make a fool out of himself. She turns to the bartender who approaches her. "A shot of whiskey, please?"

"Can I see some ID?" the bartender asks.

"You don't need to," Charlie compels the man, and he nods slowly before going to get her drink. Moments later he returns and puts the shot down in front of her. She turns around in her seat, looking at the crowd while holding the shot in her fingers. She smirks slightly when she sees Tyler making his way over to her and she downs her shot without wincing.

"Nice," he says, smirking at her. She grins before setting her shot glass down on the bar. "How'd you get him to serve you?"

"I can be very persuasive when the situation calls for it," Charlie says, flirtatiously.

"I bet you can," Tyler says with the same tone of voice while taking a seat next to Charlie. Charlie smirks at him before looking at the bartender. She catches his eye and waves him over.

"A shot for me and my friend here," Charlie says, and the man nods. Charlie looks at Tyler with a semi-smug smile as the bartender sets two shots down in front of them. Charlie picks up one of the shot glasses and watches as Tyler does the same, and the two of them both down their shots at the same time. Tyler lets out a breath as the alcohol burns his throat slightly, and he looks at Charlie.

"Come dance with me?" he asks, confidently, and Charlie grins at him.

"Sure," she says, shrugging off her jacket and standing. She slips her hand into Tyler's offered hand with a grin and he leads her out to the floor where everybody's dancing. Tyler immediately turns her around so that her back is pressed against his chest, and his hands latch onto her waist. Charlie smirks and her hands cover his as they move in sync with the beat of the fast paced music.

"Your brother doesn't look too happy," Tyler murmurs in her ear, and Charlie lifts an eyebrow as she scopes out Stefan who's standing next to one of the pool tables, glowering at Tyler. Lexi stands next to him, giving Charlie an approving look, and Charlie winks at her.

"No, don't worry about it. His face always looks like that," Charlie responds to Tyler, eyeing the look on her brother's face. Stefan's scowl deepens, much to Charlie's amusement. One of Charlie's hands leaves Tyler's and she places it on the back of his neck when he moves his hands down to her hips. Eventually, the song ends and Tyler's hands leave Charlie's body, but he takes her hand in his and leads her back to the bar. "You're quite the dancer."

"Yeah, so are you," Tyler laughs, and Charlie glances to her left and rolls her eyes as Damon approaches them.

"Hey there, kiddo," Damon says before ordering a drink.

"Hi Damon, go away," Charlie says, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Stefan wants to talk to you," Damon says, offhandedly.

"Stefan can wait until we get home," Charlie replies, and Damon shrugs before taking his drink and walking away.

"Another brother?" Tyler asks, and Charlie nods with a sigh.

"Oldest brother," Charlie answers. "He's not as bad as Stefan though, when it comes to over-protectiveness."

"Got it, so… Watch out for Stefan?" Tyler asks, and Charlie laughs.

"Yeah, pretty much," Charlie answers, and Tyler regards her for a few moments.

"I think I can handle him," Tyler says, arrogantly, and strangely, this doesn't put Charlie off like it normally would.

"Oh, do you?" Charlie asks, amused.

"Mhm, especially if it meant spending more time with you," Tyler says, lowly, while pushing a lock of dark hair behind Charlie's ear. Charlie smirks when she sees the look in Tyler's eyes.

"Why, Mr. Lockwood, I do believe you're trying to seduce me," Charlie says, playfully, and Tyler grins at her.

"Is it working?" Tyler asks, and Charlie raises an eyebrow slightly.

"Like a charm," Charlie answers, with a grin.

"Hey, Charlie… Can I talk to you for a second?" Elena asks, just as Tyler opens his mouth to say something else. Charlie regards Elena for a few moments before nodding with a smile.

"Of course. I'll be right back," Charlie says to Tyler, who nods, and Charlie slides off of the bar stool before following Elena to one of the corners of the Grill.

"What did you do to Jeremy?" Elena asks, and Charlie raises an eyebrow.

"I compelled him. Just like you asked," Charlie answers.

"But he's acting different. I mean, he's studying; he's not doing drugs; he's not drinking. He even told Jenna and me that he loves us today, and he… Never does that," Elena says, looking at Charlie with a frown. Charlie sighs slightly and nods.

"I may have told him to quit all of the bad stuff, and to try in school. And… To be nicer to you and your aunt. I know I should have talked to you about it, and I should have told you, and I'm sorry, but I've seen kids like that before. Your brother seems like a good kid underneath all of the hurt and heartbreak, and I didn't want to see him go any deeper into the drugs and drinking than he already did," Charlie explains, with a genuine apologetic expression on her face. Slowly, the frown on Elena's face disappears, and she sighs before nodding.

"You're right. You should have told me," Elena says, and Charlie nods in agreement. "But you're also right about Jeremy. I wish that it wouldn't have taken compulsion to make him stop everything… But I'm glad that you did. So… Thank you. Next time… Tell me."

"Hopefully there isn't a next time," Charlie says with a small smile, and Elena smiles back while nodding. "It wasn't all me though. I just kind of gave him a push in the right direction. For example, all I told him was to be a little nicer to you and your aunt, I never went into specifics," she says with a smile before walking away, and going back to Tyler. Charlie narrows her eyes when she sees Damon sitting next to Tyler in her previously vacated seat.

"I heard you were kind of a dick. My sister isn't really into guys like that," she hears Damon say, and she growls slightly before appearing next to them.

"Damon, how much have you had to drink tonight?" Charlie asks, ripping her jacket out of his grasp.

"Not nearly enough," Damon answers, smirking at her. "I was just talking to Tyler here."

"Yeah, I saw that," Charlie responds, glaring at him before taking Tyler's hand. "I've come to spring you from this incredibly pointless interrogation," she says, looking at Tyler. Tyler immediately rises from his seat and allows her to lead him away. "Sorry about that. Just ignore him. He's really… Unbalanced."

"Yeah, got it," Tyler says, laughing a bit. Tyler looks over when a few of his friends call him, and Tyler glances at Charlie for a moment, and she nods at him. He leads her over to the group and she greets his friends when he introduces them, all the while, keeping an arm around her waist. She half listens as they talk, but her attention is completely stolen when she sees the sheriff and a few police officers walk in with a disheveled girl.

"Look around let me know if you see anything," Sheriff Forbes says, and the girl looks around before pointing at the bar. Charlie follows where the girl is pointing with her eyes and sees Damon and Lexi sitting there. Her jaw clenches almost painfully when the sheriff walks over to them and she blinks a few times when she sees her inject Lexi with vervain.

"Hey, I'll uh… I'll be right back, okay?" Charlie says to Tyler, who nods with a small smile and releases her. Charlie gives him a forced smile back before quickly making her way to Stefan who had seen what happened to Lexi as well. Stefan immediately spots her and grabs Charlie's hand and leads her and Elena to the door, but a police officer stops them.

"Can't go out this way," he says, and Charlie growls under her breath before pulling Stefan towards the front doors of the restaurant. When they walk out of the restaurant, they hear the sound of gunshots being fired and they head to an alleyway and watch the scene, while hiding themselves. Charlie grips Stefan's hand painfully as they watch Lexi being shot several times, and she feels a bit of hope when Lexi doesn't seem to be affected by the bullets at all. Charlie moves to rush forward when she sees Damon approaching with a stake in his hand, but Stefan holds her back, and she gasps in horror when Damon shoves the stake into Lexi's chest. Charlie hears Elena gasp next to her, but Stefan covers Elena's mouth. Charlie stands completely rooted to the spot, watching with wide, horror-stricken, grief filled eyes as they load Lexi's dead body into the trunk of a cop car.

Elena remains completely silent, watching the twins carefully, taking in Stefan's expression of rage, and Charlie's expression of absolute shock.

"Stefan," Charlie whimpers out, still in complete disbelief. She feels Stefan take her jacket out of her arms, and hears him fish her car keys out of one of the pockets. Stefan reaches out and takes one of Charlie's arms and pulls her down the alley and to the parking lot.

"Stefan! Stefan!" Elena shouts, following them.

"He killed her! He killed Zach; he killed Tanner; he turned Vicki; I have to kill him!" Stefan responds, angrily.

"No, you can't do that!" Elena says as they approach Charlie's car.

"Why are you trying to save him?! Elena he's never gonna change! Don't you see that?! He's never gonna change!" Stefan exclaims, opening the passenger side door and pushing Charlie inside the car as gently as he can given the situation.

"I'm not trying to save _him_, I'm trying to save _you_! You have no idea what this will do to you, please Stefan," Elena says, her voice pleading, and Stefan shuts the door after tossing Charlie's jacket into the back seat.

"Everywhere I've been, pain and death follow; Damon follows me. No more," Stefan says, walking around the car.

"Stefan please. Please just- just talk to me; Let me be here for you. Talk to me," Elena pleads, grabbing Stefan and looking at him. Stefan gently takes Elena's hands off of him and opens the driver's side door.

"No. You were right to stay away from me," Stefan says, shutting the door and turning the car on before peeling out of the parking lot, quickly driving down the road. The ride is spent in complete silence, other than the sound of Stefan's angry breathing and his grinding teeth. He occasionally glances at Charlie's still form in the passenger seat, and he frowns as she stares blankly out the windshield. When they arrive at the boarding house, Stefan turns off the car and opens the door. "Go inside Charlie. Wait for me in my room, okay?"

Charlie nods slightly, and exits the car before walking at a human pace inside the house. She slowly moves up the stairs and to Stefan's bedroom. She looks around the room a bit before slipping out of her heels and sitting down on Stefan's bed. She looks at the door when she hears the sound of her brothers fighting. She looks down at her hands as she replays the scene of Damon staking Lexi over and over inside her mind, and her hands ball into tight fists. Her short fingernails dig into her palms, effectively drawing blood that drips onto her bare legs. Tears blur her vision as the reality of the situation crashes down on her and a quiet sob echo's through the quiet room. Her hands fly up to grip her hair as her sobs grow louder.

She vaguely registers Stefan walking into his bedroom, and approaching her quickly. He sits down next to her, as tears of his own run down his face, and he wraps his arms around her. Eventually, Charlie's sobs gradually quiet, and Stefan lightly pushes her down on the bed so that she's lying down, and he lies next to her, gently stroking her dark hair as a form of brotherly comfort as tears still run down both of their faces, silently mourning the loss of their best friend.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **Alright, there's chapter 8! I'm so sorry that it took so long, but I kind of wanted to take a small break from writing. Unfortunately, during said break, my computer messed up and I had to get it fixed, then just the other day my boyfriend and I broke up, and that kind of distracted me, but everything's better now! I hope you all liked this!

The winner of the poll is…. **KLAUS**! He barely won, but I'm still excited. I was actually hoping he would win because I have a lot of plans for the two of them!

**New outfits on Polyvore! Go check them out! Link on profile!**

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Comments?  
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	9. History Repeating

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!

**Songs for this chapter:**

**Layla – Derek and the Dominoes, Eric Clapton (Scene in Charlie's bedroom)**

**-TSBOF-**

The morning after Lexi's death, Charlie's eyes slowly open and she frowns slightly when she finds herself still in Stefan's bedroom. She sighs before easily sitting up and rising from her twin's bed. She looks down at Stefan's sleeping form and exits his bedroom. As she exits his bedroom she, quite literally, walks into Damon.

"Whoa, careful kiddo," Damon says, catching her by her upper arms before she falls backwards. Charlie looks up into Damon's eyes and an ugly scowl appears on her face. She quickly lifts her hands and pushes him away from her with impressive force, causing the older vampire's back to slam against the wall. Charlie stalks off, the look of pure, raw fury never once leaving her face. "Charlie-," Damon starts.

"Do. Not. Talk to me," Charlie growls, turning around sharply to face her eldest brother, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I have _nothing _to say to you, Damon. Honestly, if you wanna salvage any of the small pieces left of our relationship; I suggest you not talk to me today. Or tomorrow. Or ever again," Charlie says, before turning on her heel and stomping down the hallway, and walking into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Once in her bedroom, she takes a deep, calming breath before running her hands through her hair. She looks herself over in the full length mirror hanging next to her closet, and grimaces at her appearance. Her once pretty makeup is smudged around her eyes, giving her a raccoon-ish appearance. Her once perfectly curled hair is now lying flat in some places, while the curls that remain are tangled together, and she scrunches up her nose in distaste when she finds that she's still in her dress from the previous night. She casually strips out of her dress before heading to her bathroom for a much-needed shower. After her shower, she reaches out and grabs her rarely used black robe and slips it on before grabbing a towel out of her bathroom closet and mindlessly towel drying her hair as she walks back into her bedroom.

Charlie sighs before dropping her towel down onto her messy bed and grabbing the remote for her iPod dock and turning it on. She nods in approval as the song Layla blares through the speakers. She takes her time getting ready for the day and she glances curiously at the door when somebody knocks.

"Come in," she calls after pulling on a shirt and jeans. She eyes the door cautiously, lest the visitor turns out to be Damon, but she feels a brief bout of relief when Stefan walks into the room. He holds up her pair of heels that she'd left in his bedroom the previous night. "Oh, good. I forgot those," she says, taking the shoes from him and tossing them in her closet.

"I'm not going to school anymore," Stefan announces, and she looks at him curiously. "Enough people have been hurt. If I distance myself from Elena and her friends, maybe no more of them have to die at Damon's hand," Stefan says, and Charlie lets out a snort.

"Honestly, Stef, I don't think that'll matter much. This is Damon we're talking about," Charlie says, and Stefan's eyebrows rise at the way she sneers their brother's name.

"I don't think I've ever heard you say his name like that before," Stefan says, sitting down in the chair in her room.

"He crossed a line. No… He more crossed the line, stomped on it, and lit it on fire," Charlie says, thoughtfully. "I mean, honestly, anybody else," she says softly, looking at Stefan with an anguished frown, "why her?"

"He said it was to get the council off our backs," Stefan says, and Charlie rolls her eyes before shaking her head.

"We could have left," Charlie says, the frown disappearing from her face. "There's no excuse for what he did," she says, and Stefan looks at his twin for a few moments before nodding in agreement and standing. He walks over to her and wraps an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him gently. She responds by wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. He leans down and kisses the top of her head gently before pulling back.

"I have to go to the school to let Elena know that I'm not coming back," Stefan says, and Charlie nods.

"I'll go, too. I left a jacket in my locker," Charlie says, and Stefan raises an eyebrow at her. "It's one of my favorites! I want it back."

"Whatever you say," Stefan says, before turning on his heel and walking out of her bedroom. Charlie quickly pulls on a pair of boots before following her brother out of the house. The twins decide that instead of driving, it would be easier to just run to the school, and in a matter of seconds they're approaching the school's campus. Once at the school, Charlie immediately goes inside and finds her locker quickly.

"Charlie?" she hears Elena's voice ask as she opens the combination lock that keeps her locker shut.

"Hey, Elena," Charlie says, sending a small smile to Bonnie who is standing near Elena.

"Hey… How are you?" Elena asks, and Charlie's smile falters slightly.

"Fine," she says, convincingly.

"Hey, I'll meet up with you later okay?" Elena asks Bonnie, who nods before walking away, sending a smile to Charlie. "Are you sure?" Elena asks Charlie softly, taking a few steps closer to the vampire.

"I'm sure. I'm fine, Elena. Really," Charlie says, giving Elena a reassuring smile. Charlie reaches into her locker and grabs her jacket before slipping it onto herself.

"Okay," Elena says, still unconvinced. "Is Stefan here?"

"Yeah, he's outside," Charlie says, shutting her locker. "C'mon," she says, gesturing for Elena to follow her. Charlie leads Elena outside the school where the two girls find Stefan sitting on a table, waiting for them. "I'll leave you two alone for a few minutes," Charlie says, giving both of them a small smile before walking away. Charlie wanders around the school grounds for a few minutes, and soon enough she finds herself approaching the parking lot. Charlie frowns deeply when she spies her eldest brother trapping Bonnie against a car. She narrows her eyes before approaching the pair.

"See how scared you are? And you should be, because I will get that crystal, even if I have to wait for Emily to give it to me herself," she hears Damon say to Bonnie.

"Is there a problem here?" Charlie asks, and Bonnie's head snaps to the side to look at her, but Damon keeps his eyes trained on Bonnie for a few moments more. Eventually, Damon slowly turns his head to look at his sister, who's eyes are solely on him.

"Nope. No problems here, sister," Damon says, giving Charlie a false smile and backing away from Bonnie. Charlie walks forward and squeezes between Damon and Bonnie before giving Damon a small but forceful shove backwards. She sends him a heated glare over her shoulder as her body faces Bonnie.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asks Bonnie, giving her an apologetic look.

"I'm fine," she says. "Thank you," she adds, softer in a tone that she thinks Damon can't hear.

"No problem," Charlie says, grinning slightly. She steps back as Bonnie opens her car door.

"Oh, Bonnie?" Damon asks, and Charlie scowls at him, while Bonnie pauses reluctantly. "Next time Emily comes to play, you tell her...That a deal's a deal," Damon says, and Bonnie glares at him for a few moments before getting into her car.

"Leave my friends alone Damon. You've lowered my friend count enough," Charlie says, darkly before turning on her heel and walking away.

"Can't do that, Charlie. She has something of mine," Damon says, following her.

"I don't care," Charlie says.

"I do. I need it," Damon says, and Charlie looks at him, mildly interested.

"And what is it exactly that she has that's so important?" she asks, frowning slightly.

"Emily's necklace," Damon says, simply, and Charlie raises an eyebrow.

"The ugly one with the big amber crystal?" Charlie asks, remembering the necklace with ease.

"Mhm," Damon responds.

"The one that she gave to that bitch Katherine?" Charlie asks, frowning.

"Yes," Damon says after a moment of silence.

"How… Unsurprising," Charlie mutters. "Over a century and you still can't move on."

"And you think Stefan has?" Damon asks, sharply, stopping, and grabbing Charlie's arm, stopping her as well. "Going after, and falling for a girl who somehow looks exactly like Katherine? You call that moving on?"

"Who ever said anything about Stefan, Damon? This is about you," Charlie says, before pulling her arm out of Damon's grip. She scoffs out a laugh as a thought comes to mind. "You know what? I don't care. I don't even know why I'm talking to you. I mean, you did kill my best friend last night."

Charlie lets out a surprised gasp when she feels herself being quickly lifted and in seconds she's on the other side of the school where she sees practically no one.

"I did it to get the town off of our backs," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes before walking away from him, but Damon reaches forward and grabs her arm. "Look, you can be your usual petty self about this all you want, but you have no idea how close they were to finding us. They knew there was a vampire in town. It was only a matter of time before they found us out."

"You know why they knew that there was a vampire in town, Damon? Because of you. You're the stupid asshole who came into town killing people, and leaving their bodies out for people to find. You're the one who's been screwing mine and Stefan's lives up since you got here. **And **you're the one who killed my best friend, the one who taught me to control my hunger, and the one who helped Stefan and I out more than she probably should have. This is **your **fault Damon. So yeah, maybe I am acting petty, but I think I have every god damn right to," Charlie says, wrenching her arm out of Damon's hand. "Stop trying to justify your actions Damon because after 150 years, I'm tired of hearing your excuses," she says, eyeing her brother for a few moments before turning on her heel and walking away, and this time, Damon doesn't stop her.

Once Charlie is out of sight of any on-lookers, she blurs away from the school. When she arrives back at the boarding house, she walks inside and slams the door behind her before storming up the stairs to the second floor. When she arrives at the landing at the top of the stairs, she sees Stefan standing in the hallway, looking at her with a frown on his face.

"Where've you been? I couldn't find you after I was done talking to Elena," Stefan says.

"I got cornered by Damon, who was subtly threatening Bonnie," Charlie says, walking past Stefan and into her bedroom.

"You okay?" he asks, leaning on the doorframe.

"Fine," she answers shortly.

"Are you?" Stefan asks, unconvinced, and Charlie glares at him.

"I'm fine, Stefan," Charlie says before sighing.

"Okay… Well, I'm heading out. Elena needs to talk to me about something," Stefan says, and Charlie nods. Stefan turns to walk away, and Charlie frowns slightly.

"Stefan," Charlie calls and he stops and looks at her. "Are you okay?" she asks, and Stefan looks thoughtful for a few moments before shaking his head with a small smile.

"No. I'm not. But I will be… And so will you," Stefan says, giving her a reassuring look that makes her smile slightly. She looks down at the floor when Stefan walks away, and reaches into her pocket to take out her cell phone. She checks the time and she thinks a certain idea over when she sees that it's still early in the day. She approves of the idea in her head, and sends off a quick text to Stefan before dashing out of the house, and soon enough she's completely out of Mystic Falls.

By car, a trip to Boston, Massachusetts from Mystic Falls would typically take almost nine hours. Using vampire speed, though, Charlie arrives in Boston in a little under two hours. When she reaches the middle of the city, she walks into the familiar tattoo shop and immediately spots a pleasantly familiar face of her friend Genesis 'Gen' Walker sitting behind the desk at the front of the shop.

"Oh. My. God," Gen nearly shouts with a huge grin on her face, and Charlie smiles widely at her. Gen rises from her chair and expertly hops over the counter before engulfing Charlie in a tight hug. Charlie returns the girl's embrace happily and pulls away when Gen lets go. "When the hell did you get back?"

"Just a little bit ago. I'm only visiting for a little while," Charlie says with a small apologetic look in her eyes.

"A little while is enough for me. Where's that hot brother of yours?" she asks, and Charlie scrunches up her nose.

"Not here," Charlie answers. "I came alone."

"Mmm… Shame," Gen says with slight disappointment before shrugging. "Ah well, how've you been? Yesterday was your birthday wasn't it?"

"Sure was," Charlie says, any traces of a smile suddenly vanish from her face, and Gen eyes her curiously.

"Bad birthday?" Gen asks, and Charlie snorts before taking a seat in one of the available chairs.

"The worst," Charlie mumbles, and Gen takes a seat next to her.

"Wanna talk about it?" Gen asks, and Charlie looks at her briefly before shaking her head.

"Nope. Not at all," Charlie responds, running a hand through her hair.

"Want a cigarette?" Gen asks, taking a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of her jeans, and Charlie laughs.

"No," Charlie says, and Gen looks thoughtful for a few moments.

"Wanna get a new tattoo? I can do it. I got my license a few weeks ago," Gen says, and Charlie looks at her with raised eyebrows for a few moments.

"Have you done any work?" Charlie asks, and Gen nods with a large smile before racing away to the back of the shop. Gen swiftly returns with a book in her hands, and she promptly hands it to Charlie.

"I haven't done much, but I've had a lot of clients for someone who hasn't had their license that long," Gen says, and Charlie opens the photo book, and she's impressed by the work of her friend. She decides that getting a new tattoo wouldn't hurt, and she immediately begins thinking of things she can get. Charlie immediately thinks about Lexi, and how she should get a tattoo that makes her think of her deceased friend. She thinks back to the last things that the two of them did together and she looks at Gen after closing the book.

"Have you ever seen the movie Evil Dead?" Charlie asks, and Gen nods.

"Classic," Gen says, and Charlie grins.

"Right? But anyway… I wanna get something from that, but I don't know what… Any ideas?" Charlie asks, and Gen looks thoughtful for a few seconds before frowning slightly.

"What about that book's name… It was like…," Gen trails off thoughtfully, and Charlie nods.

"_Naturum Demontum_," Charlie supplies, and Gen snaps her fingers and points at her.

"That's it!" she says happily, and Charlie laughs. "You could get the words with the book over it," Gen says, and Charlie pictures this in her head for a few moments before nodding approvingly. "Hang on, let me sketch it out real quick, then you can decide," Gen says, and Charlie grins at her friends excitement. Gen quickly springs out of her chair and walks behind the front desk and takes a seat before reaching under the desk for a piece of paper and a pencil. Charlie watches Gen for a few moments before taking out her cell phone and she finds that she has a new text message from Stefan.

'_You with Gen now_?' Stefan's message says.

'_Yep, getting a new tattoo. :)' _Charlie responds, and stuffs her phone back into her pocket. A few minutes later, Gen happily shows her the sketch, and Charlie smiles widely when she sees it.

"This looks great! This is it. I want it," Charlie says, nodding, and handing it back to Gen who visibly grows more excited that she gets to administer another tattoo.

"Awesome. Okay, I have to make the stencil of it. Come on back," Gen says, and Charlie stands up and follows Gen to the main part of the shop. Gen directs Charlie to her station, and Charlie takes a seat in the chair after removing her jacket. She takes her phone out of her pocket again while she waits on Gen, and she finds another new message from her twin.

'_Come home as soon as you can. Might need help with Damon. No emergency,' _Stefan replies to Charlie's last message.

'_Alright,'_ Charlie replies back, and puts her phone down on her lap. Minutes later, Gen returns with the stencil in her hand.

"Alrighty, where do you want it?" Gen asks, and Charlie slaps a hand on the inside of her right upper arm.

"Right here," she says, removing her hand, and Gen nods before cleaning the area, and placing the stencil on her arm. She removes the paper, leaving the outline of her tattoo on her exposed skin. Charlie waits patiently in the chair while Gen prepares her equipment.

"Ready?" Gen asks, as she poises the needle over Charlie's skin.

"Just uh… One thing," Charlie says, and sighs slightly for having to do this to her friend.

"What?" Gen asks, and Charlie locks her eyes onto Gen's.

"Do me a favor and ignore the whole quick healing thing. It's normal for me," Charlie compels her, and Gen blinks slowly.

"Yeah, sure," Gen says, coming out of her compulsion induced daze, giving Charlie a grin that makes her feel slightly guilty. Charlie doesn't let this guilt show and grins back.

"Now I'm ready," Charlie says, and almost immediately Gen begins her tattoo. Charlie winces slightly at first due to the pain, but she quickly grows used to it.

"So what's the town's name that you moved to?" Gen asks, making conversation to pass the time.

"Mystic Falls. In Virginia," Charlie says, and Gen makes a small noise in the back of her throat.

"Sounds fancy," she says, snarkily.

"Yeah, no, not really. I could honestly do without," Charlie says, and Gen frowns.

"Then why don't you leave? You liked it here enough," Gen says, under the impression that Charlie is now nineteen years old since she and Stefan graduated high school in Boston.

"Way too much family stuff going on right now for that," Charlie mutters, and Gen raises a curious eyebrow. "I don't exactly feel comfortable leaving Stefan on his own with our demented oldest brother."

"Damon, right?" Gen asks, and Charlie hums a positive answer. "When did he come back? I thought he was off doing his own thing, or whatever."

"He was. He randomly decided to grace Stefan and I with his unfortunate presence when we got to Mystic Falls," Charlie grumbles bitterly, and Gen frowns.

"I thought you liked Damon. I mean, with as much as you talked about him before…," Gen trails off after seeing the dark look on Charlie's face.

"Yeah, I did. We just haven't gotten along at all since he's been back," Charlie says, and Gen nods slightly.

"Well… All siblings fight, I guess," Gen says, and Charlie suppresses a dark chuckle.

"Yeah, mine more than any other," Charlie says, despondently.

Almost two and a half hours later, Charlie's tattoo is completed and she's completely satisfied with how it turned out. With much convincing and insistence, she pays for the tattoo that Gen adequately administered to her. Gen had attempted to make Charlie keep her money, but Charlie was having none of it and paid Gen $200 for the colored and detailed tattoo. Charlie stays with Gen for another thirty minutes, chatting and catching up before she has to inevitably leave, and return to Mystic Falls.

"I'm gonna miss you! Come back and visit soon, you hear me?" Gen asks, enveloping Charlie in another hug.

"You can count on it," Charlie says, chuckling and retuning the embrace. "You get back to work, I have to go."

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay overnight? It's a long drive back," Gen says, frowning at her friend slightly.

"As much as I'd love that, I have to go back home. I can't leave Stefan and Damon alone too long without one of them trying to kill the other," Charlie says, and Gen sighs.

"Fine. Go do your sisterly duties. Text me later!" Gen says, pointing her index finger at Charlie.

"I will," Charlie says, while walking towards the door of the tattoo shop. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," Gen says, smiling. The two girls exchange their goodbyes, and Charlie finally leaves the tattoo shop before walking a few blocks away, and blurring out of Boston. It takes her a bit longer to get back to Mystic Falls than to leave and when she finally reaches the city limits, she slows to a walk and looks up at the now blackened sky. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and sends a quick message to Stefan, asking him where he is.

'_School. Football field. Hurry and get here. We need to talk.'_

The reply from Stefan is nearly instant, and she frowns at his message.

'_About?' _

'_Damon. And Katherine.'_

Charlie rolls her eyes slightly at Stefan's message, and stuffs her phone back into the pocket of her jacket. She sighs before dashing to the school, and she walks to the football field at a human pace. She eventually spots her brothers at the other end of the field, and she uses her vampire speed to join them.

"So, what's there to talk about regarding that ancient slut?" Charlie asks, and Damon whips around glaring at her, making her smirk.

"He says he's gonna bring her back," Stefan supplies, and Charlie frowns.

"Excuse me?" Charlie asks, her frown morphing into a scowl. "How the hell can you bring Katherine back?" she asks, looking at Damon.

"Before Katherine and the others were killed in the church, you remember what it was like in this town?" Damon asks, looking at the twins.

"I remember the fear and the hysteria," Stefan says, and Charlie nods in agreement.

"Townspeople were killing vampires one by one. When they came for Katherine, I went straight to Emily, said, "I'll do anything. Name your price; just protect her." She did," Damon says, and Charlie looks at Damon, confused.

"How?" she asks.

"She did some kind of spell with the crystal. And while the church was burning and we thought Katherine was burning in it. She wasn't," Damon says, and Stefan frowns in confusion.

"But I saw her go inside," Stefan says, and Damon smirks.

"There's a tomb underneath the church. The spell sealed Katherine in that tomb, protecting her," Damon says.

"Are you telling me that Katherine's alive?" Stefan asks, and Charlie frowns in disappointment.

"If that's what you wanna call it. She's been trapped in a mystical holding cell for the last century and a half, but you're an expert on starving a vampire, so how do you think she's doing, Stefan? Did you know that witches can use celestial events to draw energy into their magic? Me either. But in order to give the crystal its power, Emily used the comet that was passing overhead, and in order for that crystal to work again...," Damon trails off, watching as the realization dawns on his siblings.

"The comet had to return," Stefan states.

"Downside...Long time in between comets and a couple of hiccups along the way with the crystal but the comet passed, and I got the crystal. And then Caroline got the crystal, and now Bonnie has the crystal and here we are," Damon says.

"Why would Emily do this for you, though?" Charlie asks, confused.

"Because she knew they were gonna come for her, too, and she made me promise that her lineage would survive," Damon says, and Stefan nods slightly.

"I remember. You saved her children," Stefan says, and Damon nods.

"It's the only thing keeping me from ripping that little Bonnie girl's throat out to get my crystal back," Damon says, and Charlie glares heatedly at him. Damon rolls his eyes slightly and sighs. "Yes, and you, kiddo," he says, and the glare fades from Charlie's face slightly. "Well. A deal's a deal. So...You wanna go throw some more?" Damon asks. After a few moments of stunned silence between Stefan and Charlie, they turn and head in the direction that Damon walked away in.

Eventually, Stefan's phone starts ringing, and Charlie takes a seat on one of the tables, while Damon takes a seat on the bench next to where she's seated on the table top.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asks into the phone.

"It's Bonnie," she hears Elena's voice say, panicked.

"What happened?" Stefan asks, concerned.

"Emily's possessing her," Elena responds, catching Charlie and Damon's interest. "She said something."

"What did she say?" Stefan asks.

"She said "I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed." And then she just left," Elena responds. Charlie notices Damon tense beside her, and she frowns at him.

"Where do you think she went?" Stefan asks.

"I don't know. Fell's church, by the old cemetery that's where she took Bonnie in her dreams. We have to help her, Stefan," Elena says, and Charlie's eyes widen when Damon suddenly blurs away.

"Damon, wait!" she shouts. "Damn it!" she shouts and Stefan turns around, looking vastly unsurprised that Damon had left.

"Just stay there. I'm gonna go find her," Stefan says to Elena, and hangs up the phone. "Come on," Stefan says to Charlie before blurring away in the same direction that Damon left in. Charlie sighs in exasperation before following her twin. When they finally find Damon, he's stabbed through the stomach with a branch against a tree. Stefan immediately goes to him and pulls him off of the branch.

"That hurt. This is why I eat people," Damon groans after collapsing to the ground.

"Charlotte. Stefan," Bonnie, who is possessed by Emily, calls out, and the twins both look at her.

"Emily," Charlotte acknowledges the witches presence, giving her a small nod.

"Hello Emily," Stefan says.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil," Bonnie/Emily says, and the Stefan frowns.

"What do you mean evil?" Stefan asks, and Charlie snorts.

"Probably means that bitch, Katherine," Charlie mutters, ignoring the hostile glare that Damon sends her way.

"Emily. I swear to God I'll make you regret this," Damon growls, rising to his feet.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world," Bonnie/Emily says, and Charlie raises both eyebrows.

"What do you mean 'them'?" Charlie asks, confused.

"What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?" Stefan asks, looking at Damon accusingly.

"What does it matter?" Damon asks.

"What do you mean 'them', Emily?" Charlie asks, frowning at the witch, taking a couple of steps forward, and Bonnie/Emily looks at Charlie, slightly guilty.

"To save her, I had to save them," Bonnie/Emily says.

"You mean everybody? All of the vampires?" Charlie asks, her eyes widening slightly.

"With one, comes all," Bonnie/Emily clarifies.

"I don't care about them. I just want Katherine," Damon says, and Charlie rounds on him sharply.

"If she comes out, so do they!" Charlie shouts, glaring at him menacingly, knowing the havoc that each of those vengeful vampires would wreak on the town.

"I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth. This isn't about love, is it? This is about revenge," Stefan realizes.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive," Damon says, and Charlie rolls her eyes. Stefan grips Damon by the lapels of his jacket.

"Damon, you can't do this," Stefan practically orders.

"Why not?" Damon asks, pushing Stefan away angrily. "They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get."

"No, Damon they killed 27 vampires," Charlie says, moving to stand next to Stefan.

"Exactly, Damon they were vampires. You can't just bring them back," Stefan says.

"This town deserves this," Damon says, looking at his two siblings determinedly.

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago," Stefan says, incredulously.

"There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again. They already know too much, and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me," Damon says, looking at Bonnie/Emily.

"Things are different now," Bonnie/Emily says as she finishes drawing a pattern in the dirt with a large stick.

"Don't do this," Damon almost pleads.

"I can't free them," Bonnie/Emily says, looking at Damon. "I won't! Incendia!" she shouts, and fire suddenly surrounds her, making each of the vampires take a step back.

"No! No please," Damon says, taking a few steps closer to the fire.

"Bonnie!" Elena shouts, showing up at the scene. Stefan immediately rushes to Elena and stops her from approaching.

"No!" Damon shouts, moving closer to the fire, and Charlie quickly instinctively reaches out and grabs him when the fire burns his hand. Damon immediately pulls himself out of Charlie's hold, and watches as Bonnie/Emily throws the necklace up into the air and it explodes. Charlie watches as the flames around Bonnie die and Emily departs from her body, leaving Bonnie looking around, confused as to what just happened. Charlie spies the look of rage in Damon's eyes, and he blurs forward to get to Bonnie, but before he can get to her, Charlie zips forward and stands in front of her friend. She quickly pushes Damon back, making him stumble back slightly. He growls at her and she growls back before baring her fangs, standing in front of Bonnie protectively.

"Don't do anything stupid, Damon," Charlie growls, and Damon rushes forward again, determined to kill the witch behind his sister, but Charlie grips him by the neck and slams him onto the ground. "Knock it off!" she shouts before turning her head to the side sharply to look at Stefan. "Go!" she barks at him, and Stefan, in turn, grabs Elena and Bonnie before blurring away. "I'm not gonna let you hurt anymore of my friends, Damon."

In response to what she says, Damon elbows Charlie in the ribs out of anger with enough force to push her off of him, resulting in two cracked ribs that makes Charlie cry out in pain. Damon quickly rises to his feet and he growls when he finds that Bonnie is gone, and he decides to direct his anger onto Charlie.

"You know, I'm really sick of you getting in my way, Charlotte," Damon announces while walking towards Charlie, who is still lying on the ground a few feet away from him. She groans slightly when she feels her ribs snap back into place. She glares at Damon when he reaches down and grips one of her arms and pulls her to her feet. He instantly slams her up against a tree, with one hand on her arm, and the other wrapped tightly around her neck.

"You've killed enough of my friends," Charlie rasps out. "No more."

"I don't think that's your call," he snarls, a menacing glare set on his face.

"It's not her fault. Bonnie didn't do this. It was Emily. Not Bonnie. I couldn't let you hurt her," Charlie breathes, squeaking in pain when he squeezes her neck tighter. "You're hurting me, Damon," Charlie says, locking her green eyes onto his blue ones. She watches as the glare slowly fades from his face, and his grip on her neck loosens. Charlie blinks when Damon is suddenly ripped away from her and thrown around ten feet away from her. She looks to her immediate left and sees Stefan standing next to her, glaring at Damon. Stefan goes to move forward, but Charlie stops him with a hand on his bicep. "Its fine," she says to his questioning look, and Stefan relaxes slightly. The two of them watch as Damon stands, and he looks at them with a solemn look in his eyes.

"Katherine never compelled me. I knew everything. Every step of the way. It was real for me," Damon says, and Charlie is stunned when she sees that her eldest brother is near tears. "I'll leave now," he says, taking a seat on a nearby stone wall near the church remains. The twins watch their brother for a few moments, and the silence is broken when Stefan speaks up.

"I'll meet you at home," Stefan says softly to Charlie, who nods slightly, not taking her eyes off of Damon who is silently staring off into the woods. She hears Stefan quietly walk away, and she sighs lightly. Charlie remains standing in the same place for a few more moments before going to take a step closer to her oldest brother. She stops when images of him staking Lexi flash through her mind and she frowns before turning on her heel and blurring away back to the boarding house.

A little over ten minutes later, Charlie is lying on her bed in her bedroom, and she raises her eyebrows when she hears Stefan enter the house, slamming the door loudly behind him. She listens as he walks to his bedroom, and it's silent in the house for a few moments until she hears something being thrown at the wall in Stefan's bedroom, and the unmistakable sound of her twin in tears. She waits for a few moments before rising from her bed and slowly walking down the hallway with her sock-clad feet. She quietly pushes open Stefan's still broken door and finds him sitting on his bed with his elbows on his knees, and is head in his hands, his shoulders slightly shaking. Charlie frowns and slowly moves towards her brother, and once she reaches him, she takes a seat on the bed next to him before wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. Stefan takes a deep breath before lifting his head and placing it on her narrow shoulder before wrapping his arms around her waist.

Charlie frowns in confusion as to why her brother is so upset, but she keeps her mouth closed, and simply rubs soothing circles on Stefan's back as he cries on her shoulder. She has the distinct feeling that his state of distress has something to do with Elena. She gently lays her cheek on the top of Stefan's head, fully prepared to play the role of the caring sister and be with her twin as long as he needs her.

**-TSBOF-**

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry about the wait for this chapter, I've been pretty busy, but anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter! It took a few days to complete it because I couldn't decide whether to have Charlie be with Elena or her brothers during this episode… I really couldn't make it work either way so I just made her leave for a while.

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**Reviewers and Replies:**

**RHatch89****: **I'm glad you like the Charlie and Stefan moments because believe me, there are many, many more to come! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**grapejuice101****:** Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Bronzelove****:** Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Edwardluver2000****: **Ugh, I know! I agree 100%! I sat down before I wrote the chapter and I thought for almost an hour of a way I could get away with not killing Lexi, but I really couldn't find a way around it. And I know! The finale was insane! I can't wait for season 5 and The Originals! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Guest:** Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!\

**Lucy Greenhill****:** Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

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**FalconHQ****: **Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**xxRAINBOWunicornsXX****: **I'm glad you like the Charlie and Stefan moments because believe me, there are many, many more to come! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**DiannaSalvatore: **I agree. Damon really is a dick, and I hated him during season 1, but I really like him now! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**Kristina'sMyName****: **Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

**mfmxxx****: **I agree with you! I was already planning on making Stefan's ripper-ness a little different. Believe me, it won't be exactly like the show. Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!


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